The Velveteen Faunus: The Timid Tale of Velvet Scarlatina
by PrometheanA293
Summary: Velvet Scarlatina: one of the more timid students at Beacon Academy. She is constantly told to defend herself, yet she refuses unless placed under the most extreme circumstances. What happened to make her that way? This story tells the reasons as to how Velvet's personality formed, and how she became the Woman/Faunus that we all know and love today.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any portion of the characters or likenesses used in this fanfic. All Elements used in this are the properties of ADeafBlindMan Games and Rooster Teeth. _Rated T for Mild-Heavy Language and Violence._ Enjoy!**

"Damn, those are _huge_! Are they real? Let's have a feel and see."

The two boys had cornered Velvet in an alleyway next to her desired destination. She had never seen them before, so she assumed they were in Vale for the Vytal Games. They had done what so many before them had done and picked her out of the busy street by her long, dark brown ears. She assumed that they had cornered her because their curiosity had taken a morbid turn and they wanted to play with her ears, like so many before her.

The boy that had previously spoken extended his hand with an index finger and thumb outreached with the hope of stroking Velvet. He and his friend bore an oddly similar resemblance to each other. Velvet deduced that they were probably brothers, or at the very least from the same region. After a second of analyzing their looks and demeanor, Velvet assumed that their place of origin was likely Vacuole.

The first bore a strong resemblance to Sun in Velvet's mind, save for the lack of a tail and Faunus Blood. His friend was more muscular, his biceps threatening to tear apart the beige T-Shirt that had found a home under his Brown leather vest. The two of them shared a smirk of superiority that telegraphed to Velvet that the two were certain that they would have their way, and that Velvet would do nothing to impede on their escapade to feel Velvet's ears. No one stopped to help Velvet, despite their not-so-subtle attempts to see what was happening.

 _Someone. Please Help._

The Sun-esque boy slowly began to tug and stroke at Velvet's ear. She flinched and began to sob at her helplessness.

"Please," Velvet said timidly, "stop."

This only served to elicit laughter from the two boys.

"Oh, that accent is _adorable."_ The Sun-esque boy said.

"Hey, Goman. How does it feel?" The more muscular boy asked.

"Why don't you see for yourself, Tosaku? Little Bunny Foo Foo doesn't mind. _Do_ you mind, sweetheart?"

Velvet remained silent. Tosaku's body heat became stronger as Velvet sensed his hand coming closer to her ear. Velvet closed her eyes and waited for the ordeal to end, disgusted with herself that she had refused, despite all of her friends' insistence that she stick up for herself.

"Hey, asshats. Did the lady give you permission to touch her?" Velvet immediately recognized the voice that resonated from the end of the alley. She opened her eyes to confirm her suspicions.

 _Rojo._

It was then that Velvet remembered the original reason that she came to the Business District of Vale in the first place. She had volunteered to accompany Rojo to a produce shop to buy vegetables for Rojo's uncle, who was running a Ramen booth during the Vytal Games.

"I don't see any ladies here. All I see is a damn dirty Faunus. Even then, it doesn't concern you. So why don't you just run along, Red, if you know what's good for you?"

It was then that Rojo offered his signature smirk that Velvet knew all too well. It was the one that he always did when he was about to give a case of what he called "Street Justice".

"Unfortunately for you, I _don't_ know what's good for me."

Rojo pulled his long, dark red hair back, and pinned it into place at the back of his head. Rojo's red eyes began to glow an even brighter red, similar to the way that Velvet recalled Yang's doing in battle. He used his right hand to hold the handle of the sword that rested in the leather sheath strapped to the back his steel battle armor. With his free hand, he snapped his fingers, emitting a flame that matched the color of his eyes. He unsheathed his sword and touched the ball to it, engulfing the entire blade in a bright red glow. He clutched the sword handle with both hands and spread his legs to fully achieve his battle stance.

"Velvet. Are you ok?" Rojo loudly inquired.

"Yes. They didn't hurt me." She replied.

"So you gonna let me have all the fun, then?"

Velvet became overjoyed at the idea of being able to use her Semblance. She chopped Tosaku in the throat, but not enough to seriously hurt him, and jumped on Goman's shoulder and did two somersaults in the air until she joined Rojo's side.

The two factions faced off on opposite sides of the alley.

"You and your little Girlfriend are gonna regret that, Faunus-lover." Goman shouted.

Velvet stayed silent as Rojo shot back.

"Girlfriend? Haha, I'm glad that you hold me in such a light that you think I'm that lucky. I don't touch her and neither should you. Apologize and maybe my friend will convince me not to kick your asses back to whatever sorry excuse for a home you came from."

"Screw You, Asshole."

Tosaku and Goman, seemingly enraged by Rojo's lighthearted demeanor, pulled their own weapons from their sheaths and satchels, previously put down to terrorize Velvet. Tosaku pulled out cerulean dual hatchets that doubled as pistols, as evidenced by the trigger under the blade. Goman unsheathed a long staff. He pressed a button near the center that caused an electrically charged trident to protrude out the end.

Rojo laughed heartily. He turned to Velvet and called her name. Velvet turned and saw him smile and nod. She knew exactly what that meant. Velvet pulled out her camera. Rojo turned back to Goman and Tosaku.

"Well, since you won't leave peacefully, that leaves the more fun option. I have one last thing to say before the fun begins."

"Oh Yeah?" Tosaku said, "What's that?"

"Say cheese."

With that, Velvet took a picture of Tosaku and Goman to obtain light copies of their Semblances. Words can not accurately convey just how much Velvet loved her Semblance.

"What the hell was that?" Goman asked.

"You're gonna find out." Rojo replied.

Rojo turned to Velvet once more.

"Velvet, are you ready?"

"Yes," she said. "but let's not hurt them too much."

Rojo groaned jokingly.

"Your strong morals cramp my style, Velvet, but I'll oblige. You're lucky my blade's dulled for Vytal. I doubt the same can be said for theirs though, so watch your back."

"I always do."

Velvet formed a Hard-Light copy of Ruby's scythe(it was one of her favorites) and got into her battle stance. Knowing herself, Velvet would stick to Hand-to-Hand combat if the situation allowed her to. She silently hoped it would, to prevent any serious injury to either party.

 _Just because they're my adversaries doesn't mean they deserve to be in serious pain. I won't let that happen. Not again._

Tosaku and Goman made the first move, letting out battle cries and charging. Rojo and Velvet didn't immediately respond. Velvet knew that he was doing exactly what she was doing. They were both sizing up the methods of Tosaku and Goman, however rudimentary and graceless. Velvet knew that she would likely be able to resort to Hand-to-Hand later on in the battle with minimal risk to herself, considering their tactics would tire them out in any long term confrontation.

"Oh, this'll be fun." Rojo said with eagerness.

Velvet couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. Her only concern, contrary to Rojo, was not maiming their opponents.

The two ran in formation toward Goman and Tosaku, silently strategizing and being sure to keep three steps ahead of Goman and Tosaku. Rojo and Velvet were the only ones who knew it, but the fight had already been decided before any blades touched each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Rojo was the first to strike. Goman thrust his trident at Rojo, who was directly in front of him. Rojo jumped over the trident tip, flipping twice over Goman and his weapon while grabbing onto the wooden staff to propel himself the second time. Rojo landed on his feet behind Goman with his back turned. The two began to turn to face each other once more, but Rojo was quicker.

By the time Goman turned to meet his adversary, Rojo thrust his flaming sword into his chest, sending him flying into the street and landing on his back. His dulled blade did not mortally wound Goman, but Rojo's Semblance provided enough damage to make him a worthy, if not superior adversary for Goman.

While all this was going on, Velvet was doing her damnedest to harm Tosaku in the smallest possible way. Tosaku swung his hatchets wildly at Velvet, forcing her to take two leaps back to avoid them. While Tosaku primed to deliver another set of attacks, Velvet took her opportunity and executed her premeditated attack.

Velvet pointed the Hard-Light copy of the Scythe down and swung up in the direction of Tosaku's chest and abdomen. The attack connected to it's destination with enough force to knock one of Tosaku's Hatchets out of his hand and into a pile of garbage. Tosaku did a 360 spin in the air and landed on his stomach, sliding across the cold concrete.

Velvet could see that Tosaku had become enraged at his initial defeat, and frantically looked for his second hatchet. Unable to spot it under the mound of waste, Tosaku charged at Velvet once more. Velvet's Scythe disappeared, prompting her to summon a Hard-Light copy of Pyrrah's Javelin and shield.

In an attempt to impede Tosaku's advance, Velvet thrust the javelin in his direction. Tosaku ducked down and slid on his knees to avoid being struck by the weapon. Tosaku jumped up and swung his single hatchet at Velvet once more. Velvet put Pyrrah's shield between herself and the hatchet to protect from the blows. Tosaku struck the shield 4 times before it finally disappeared. Tosaku swung another time, nearly catching Velvet by surprise. The tip of the hatchet blade struck Velvet's forearm as she backed away, cutting her sleeve and creating a large gash.

Rojo watched Goman begin to rise once more and charge with his trident. Velvet saw Rojo turn and lay his eyes on her forearm with a look of concern.

"Are you ok?" Rojo asked.

"Yes. My aura will take care of it."

As if on cue, Velvet began to glow as her gash closed and any trace of the wound disappeared.

Velvet saw that this posed as a source of further rage that Tosaku used against her. He charged with his hatchet once more. Velvet produced a Hard-Light copy of Yang's gauntlets that wrapped around her wrists and forearms. She fired one round from each gauntlet, hitting Tosaku in the chest twice, sending him flying back once more.

Velvet deduced that Rojo had engaged in combat once more, evidenced by her auditory senses picking up the sounds of metal clashing against metal and wood and loud grunts. She briefly turned to ensure that Rojo was alright, and was satisfied to observe that he appeared to be on the winning side of his battle. Rojo looked back at her, and smiled.

"Not gonna let me upstage you, are you?" He jokingly asked, placing his attention on Goman once more.

Velvet laughed and turned back to Tosaku, who swung his hatchet at her face. She bent backwards, watching the world around her move in slow motion. She observed all the details in Tosaku's face, and the way that a small section of her hair end had been cut off by the hatchet. Velvet felt annoyed by this and performed a backflip as soon as Tosaku's attack had concluded and the most recent danger was over.

The hatchet blade had become lodged in the nearest wall during Tosaku's follow-through. He gripped the handle with both hands and desperately tried to free it from its brick prison. His muscles flexed as he performed the ultimately futile task. Tosaku had completely taken his mind off of the battle and focused all of the energy he had left on freeing his hatchet.

 _This is my chance._ Velvet thought to herself.

Velvet dashed forward, not attracting Tosaku's attention until it was too late for him to evade her attack. Despite this, she waited until he was able to fight back so that she would not perform the cowardly action of delivering a strike while her adversary was in no position to defend himself.

She waited a millisecond after he saw her coming, then she struck. Despite giving him the chance to form a counterstrike, Velvet still took Tosaku off-guard and delivered a fast series of blows to his abdomen and chest that would be nearly invisible to the naked eye. Punch after Punch, kick after kick, Tosaku was too stunned to even react. It was then that Velvet was overcome with the heat of battle.

She stopped her assault to view her opponent. Despite his stunned demeanor, he still raised his fists. Velvet took two backflips and took a deep breath. She dashed towards Tosaku and lifted herself up in the air to perform a special attack that she had not used in years, and would not have used it at all, had her mind not been clouded by adrenaline: The Dropkick of a Thousand Suns.

Velvet's legs pointed in the direction of Tosaku and primed for the attack.

 _Like riding a bike._ She thought as she recalled how to correctly execute the move.

Velvet closed her eyes and focused all of her Semblance on her feet and calves. They began to glow and did not stop until a Hard-Light copy of a lance morphed around them. She flexed her leg muscles and waited until she could feel her Semblance at full power. It was then that she extended them, forcing the full power of her lance into Tosaku's chest. Velvet did not know the full gravity of what had happened until she landed on her feet and the palm of her hand and simultaneously opened her eyes.

Velvet opened her eyes and was mortified by what she had done. Tosaku's body was impressed into the wall at the end of the alley, and a trickle of blood began to trail off the corner of his mouth. Velvet could see that he was still alive, shown by the labored breathing that pushed his chest in and out. His eyes were closed and his face was fixed in an expression of pain.

The concrete of the alleyway met Velvet's leggings as she fell to her knees in languish. Velvet looked down and began to cry, her tears staining the alley with small, dark splotches.

"I've done it again. I promised myself I wouldn't." She said.

Velvet became detached from reality, only to be brought back by an electrically charged shock to the back from Goman's trident. Velvet convulsed and fell to the ground, hearing Rojo call out her name. She struggled to turn onto her back and see that Rojo had disarmed Goman. Rojo sheathed his blade and punched Goman. Rojo cornered him between the wall and a pile of garbage and was mercilessly beating him.

Still shaking, Velvet struggled to crawl to Rojo's position and grip his ankle. He quickly turned to see Velvet, then bent down and cradled her in his arms.

"He's--n-not--worth--i-it." Velvet struggled to whisper.

Rojo nodded.

"We need to get out of here before the police arrive." Rojo advised.

"N-No. They...need to know...what happened." Velvet said, slowly regaining her strength.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We need to say." Velvet had totally recovered by this point, with only the twinge of pain where the trident had struck her.

"Why do you let people do that to you? Why don't you stand up for yourself?" Rojo inquired.

"It's a long story."

"Well, the police response time sucks in Vale, so we have nothing but time." Rojo said, the glow from his eyes fading.

"Perhaps you could find us a bench first. This whole 'Damsel in Distress' bit is not fitting for me at all."

Rojo laughed, then walked into the street and sat Velvet in a bench near the alley. Rojo sat alongside her, positioning himself so that he could see Goman and Tosaku if they tried to exit the alley.

"So...The story? Unless you're not comfortable with telling it."

"No. I've kept this to myself for too long. It's time someone else knew."

And with that, Velvet began to relay the darkest chapter of her young life up to that point.


	3. Chapter 3

_2 Years Prior_

 _Small Village of Valkryite_

"Velveeeet."

Velvet was still very much asleep, despite the fact that the sun was shining through the window next to her bed. She did not wish to wake up, but was forced to when she felt a hard object poke into her abdomen underneath her nightgown.

"Velvet. Wake the Hell _up._ " The voice outside her window said in a singing voice. Velvet groggily opened her eyes to see her best friend Coco Adel leaning in the windowsill with her usual grin.

"Good Morning, Beautiful." She said in a joking manner.

Suddenly embarrassed, Velvet covered herself with her blanket and felt her face become hot as she blushed.

"Aww, c'mon. It's nothing I haven't seen before. Hurry up and get dressed. The Beacon Academy entrance exams are today, remember? Get dressed, so we can go together!"

Velvet had completely forgotten about the exams in her daze. She rushed over to her closet and quickly pulled out her Golden/Brown battle outfit. Velvet quickly bathed and put said Outfit on. She nearly ran out of her house without her Semblance camera. Velvet rushed back to retrieve it from her nightstand before running out of her door to meet Coco outside. Velvet did not bother call out to her mother or little brother, knowing fully well that they, too had likely slept in.

Coco leaned against Velvet's house, sunglasses on and gatling gun handbag slung over her shoulder. The bright sun lit up her pale white skin, even though Velvet was perfectly aware that she would never tan. Upon seeing Velvet round the corner, Coco smiled and stood upright. The two began to run towards the town square along a path that interjected through the heavy woods that surrounded Velvet's family's home.

Shadows cast down around them as the sunlight was impeded upon by the mass foliage. Velvet was tempted to stop and take a photograph of the beautiful scenery, but thought better of it due to their lack of time. Rather, they continued sprinting through the woods until they reached the gates of the village.

From there, they sprinted past the familiar shops to the towering monument that depicted a vague Hunter standing over a defeated Beowulf. They all looked similar to Velvet as she and Coco sprinted past. They were insignificant to her now, her only focus being the sound of cheers emanating from the square.

After what seemed like an eternity, Velvet and Coco finally reached the square and pushed their way through to the front of the crowd watching. They saw the end of the fight between two teens their age who went by the names of Hansel and Pyrite.

Valkryite was one of the many villages that participated in this form entrance exam into Beacon Academy: a fighting tournament among all of the interested would-be Hunters and Huntresses of the town. There were 4 brackets in the town, and the winner of each bracket would be accepted into the Academy. Velvet and Coco signed up for the tournament the moment that the sign-up sheet was posted in the square. This was the exact reason that the cobblestone streets were currently filled with people who crowded around a ring, waiting for the chance to see their loved ones in combat.

In actuality, there were 8(sometimes 9 or 10) winners in the tournament. A few spots were left open in the event that there was an exemplarly performance given by a person who came in second) Huntsmen and Huntresses who would be accepted into Beacon Academy by the end of the Tournament. There were four brackets for both males and females in Valkryite to compete. The four brackets were listed by letter, and Velvet and Coco had arrived at the ring just in time to see the end of "D" bracket for the men. The fight had just ended with Hansel as the loser, on his back while his sister Greta had rushed into the ring to aid her older brother. Hansel had struggled to prop himself up on his forearms, then his knees, then both. Velvet watched as the red earth that Hansel kneeled upon became stained with the splotches that the tears from his eyes produced as they fell to the ground.

His now-disheveled blonde hair covered his face from Velvet's view, but it did not matter. They had seen each other several times over the course of their short lives, and Velvet had remembered his face well. Not only because Velvet had an impeccable memory, but because he was the type of physically attractive teenage boy that all of the schoolgirls in Valkryite (Velvet included, at times) would helplessly fawn over and fantasize about. He was the type of specimen that one would see playing a role of a character in an Atlas picture or as a frontman in a boy band.

Hansel had extremely accentuated cheekbones and an unusually strong chin to accompany his carefully combed blonde hair. If memory served, he was approximatley 5'10 with an extremely large set of muscles to go over. Velvet had heard one too many times in the classroom vivid conversations among her female(and few male) counterparts speculated over his size and the precise measurements that his physique must have possessed. His build was due largely to his upbringing and current occupation.

He had worked at his father's lumber mill ever since he was able to lift a log and swing an ax, and simulataneously trained himself (with his father's assistance) to become a Huntsman. It was rumored that, for Hansel's 13th birthday, his father sent him out into the woods with nothing but food, water, and a knife. His father apparently told him that he was not allowed to return home until he had killed a Beowulf (the one type of Grimm that ruled the woods that surrounded the village). No one knew whether or not he actually accomplished the feat, only that his father paraded him around the village afterwards and bought him his first shot of alcohol at Valkryite's only pub. Everyone had a good idea of what happened the day previous to merit such actions.

No pride could be seen in Hansel's eyes now, however, as he rose up. After rising up and removing the hands from his face, Velvet could see the dry tears and the redness in his eyes. She felt a small sense of pity and disillusionment. She could imagine how all of the people watching the same scene that she was felt their hopes and fantasies come crashing down. Velvet imagined that they likely felt the worst sensation that anyone could in their young lives: the realization that the person they deified, the peer that they built up as their hero, was nothing more than that: a person, a normal peer of their own.

After a period of several seconds, two Tournament moderators calmly walked into the ring to gently usher the brother and sister off. They complied without incedent, and Velvet knew from years of watching this as an ineligible spectator that the women's segment of the Exam would begin. Coco and herself were made aware days ahead of time of the slots that they were given in the Tournament. In order to maintain fairness, no competitors were given any foreknowledge of who they would be facing off against. Velvet and Coco were both placed in the "A" bracket, with Coco being first in the women's segment. Velvet would be given a spot in the second match.

" _Attention: the women's segment of the Beacon Academy Entrance Physical Exam will begin in approximatley 10 minutes. First up: Coco Adel VS. Tierra Acielo. On Deck: Velvet Scarlatina VS. Icarina Daedalusant. I repeat: the women's segment of the Beacon Academy Entrance Physical Exam will begin in approximatley 10 minutes. First up: Coco Adel VS. Tierra Acielo. On Deck: Velvet Scarlatina VS. Icarina Daedalusnt. Thank you."_

Coco and Velvet looked at each other. Coco smiled and whistled in a single, descending tone that conveyed amusement, prompting Velvet to laugh.

"Damn. I'm totally upset now." Coco said with disappointment.

"Why? Fighting Acielo will be a cakewalk for you."

"Exactly. Do you know why I signed up for this Exam crap in the first place?"

Velvet stopped and looked up at the clear sky. She put her indedx finger to her mouth and pondered the answer. She felt slightly embarrassed that she had not thought to answer earlier.

"Is it because I signed up for it?"

"Well, duh. But it was also because...well, you know me. I live for any kind of challenge and the opportunity to kick some ass and take names. This Exam, aside from the boring written crap, offers all of that. Fighting against a joke like Tierra is no challenge. I probabaly won't be able to even use my cannon."

"Speaking of, you didn't bring any live rounds today, right?" Velvet asked.

Coco tilted her head back and laughed heartily.

"You know me too well. Unfortunatley, any type of Semblances that can be considered 'lethal' have been forbidden. So," Coco pulled up her bullet belt from her shoulder to reveal her bullets that were tipped with a rubberry green substance. "Rubber bullets. What about you? Any inhibtions?"

"Well, you do recall how I'm unable to currently harness some of my more lethal Hard-Light copies without creating a risk to sparring partners and the like?"

"The memory of you nearly putting a copy of Icarina's arrows through my chest is still fresh in my mind, so I'm gonna have to say yes."

"Well, because of that, I'll have to limit what copies I use and how I use it. So that means no shooting arrows or swinging swords at people. If anything, I'll have to stick with Hand-to-Hand combat."

"What if you use your "Special Move" that you've been practicing behind you've been practicing at your house?"

Velvet let out a small yelp of surprise at the mention of her new attack move. She clutched Coco's wrist tightly and lowered her voice.

"How do you know about that?"

Once again, Coco laughed, this time stifling it by placing her fist over her mouth. She quickly removed it, and looked away momentarily. After a period of what Velvet perceived to be deliberation into what she was about to say, she looked back at Velvet and lowered her sunglasses enough so that she could see the sunlight glint off of her silver eyes. She always kept them hidden so that she wouldn't have to bear the constant questions about the legends and what abilities she may or may not have. Coco was the only person that Velvet knew who had the extremely rare trait. They were the most beautiful set of eyes that she had seen thus far in her life. Velvet could count on both hands the number of times that she had had the chance to see them in her life.

"Velvet, I know everything about everyone in this little village. You remember how I knew that Hansel was cheating on his girlfriend before anyone else? Just by the way that he looked at her after a certain night spent with a certain person? Well, it's a lot like that here. I noticed that, in the days leading up to today, you were less than enthusiastic to have me as a sparring partner. 'Well, that's not like her.' I thought to myself. 'She's not the passive-aggressive type, so it can't be that. If she were pissed off at me for something, I know she would tell me.' I decided to do a little snooping and followed you back to your house. I hid in the woods, and waited until you went outside to train. That was when I saw. I looked away just before to pull out a sandwich that I had brought along, when I was drawn back by a huge green glow. Velvet...what do you call it?"

Velvet felt quietly embarrassed at the realization that she had not thought to name it before. She'd simply called it her "Special Move"up until that point.

"I haven't really thought about it yet." Velvet replied sheepishly.

"Well, with a move that powerful and that bright, I'd give it a super kick-ass name. Why not..." Coco paused to deliberate for a moment, then finished her thought. "Kick of a Thousand Suns?"

Velvet laughed a little, and agreed to the title.

"Attention: Can we please have Ms. Adel and Ms. Acielo to the ring. Coco Adel and Tierra Acielo to the center of the ring. Thank you."

Coco looked in the direction of the loudspeaker and smiled. She cracked her knuckles and stretched her arms behind her.

"Showtime." She said.

The two hugged and smiled at each other.

"Good luck." Velvet said.

"Ok, one last thing. We all know that Icarina is a stuck-up little thing, and she's probably gonna find something to try to get under your skin. When she does, you find something to throw right back. You tend to get a little heated when you're fighting, and letting her piss you off for the wrong reasons is gonna be the thing that gets you knocked out of the tournament. Other than that, you'll do fine. She's the pompous type who's abilities don't hold a candle to you. Kick some ass, and make sure to watch me do the same. Got it?" Coco pushed her sunglasses up to conceal her silver eyes.

"When don't I?"

With that, Coco waved and turned her back to Velvet, walking toward the ring where she her destiny would be realized. Velvet silently admired the poise and confidence that could be seen in the manner in which Coco watched towards the ring. It was as if Coco had herself convinced that there was no foe that she could defeat. In times like those, a more outspoken and confident Velvet thought the same thing. The two of them were excellent fighters who would make even more excellent Huntresses someday. At the last moment, Coco turned back and called Velvet's name once more.

"I expect to see you in the finals!" Coco shouted.

"Of course! If anyone's gonna put you in second place, it's gonna be me!"

"Ha! Second place. _Sure_."

Coco turned and stepped into the ring. Velvet pushed her way through the crowd to the very edge of the ring. She saw Coco pop her neck and rest one of her hands on her hip and the other on her handbag that she had not yet morphed into her gatling gun. Velvet's attention was then turned to the opposite side of the ring where Coco's competitor entered. It was Tierra Acielo, with her mother standing next to her while holding a leather case.

Tierra's mother kneeled down and unlatched the case. She revealed what appeared to be a worn pair of dark brown gardening gloves and handed them to her daughter. Tierra smirked at Coco as she carefully placed the gloves over her hands, with no apparent reaction from Coco. The two refused to take their eyes off of each other. It was as if they both aimed to find some sort of last-minute weakness that they could use against each other.

" _Can we please have all non-competitors exit the ring. I repeat: All non-competitors exit the ring."_

Tierra's mother hugged her daughter, then whispered "Good Luck" into her ear (Velvet could hear much more than the average human due to her sensitive rabbit-ears) before exiting the stage. It was at this moment that she could hear Tierra begin to mutter panic ramblings under her breath about her qualifications to be in the Tournament. Tierra pondered if Coco would cut her slack for her lack of experience. This last remark caused Velvet to laugh internally.

 _Not a Grimm's chance in Hell_.

Even if Velvet did not know who Tierra was, she could tell just how inexperienced and nervous the young girl was. Under her sleeveless black and white striped summer dress, the heavily tanned, dirty blonde girl was shaking in a not-so-subtle manner. Her knees were buckling as if they threatened to give way any second. She had bright green eyes that struggled to conceal the anxiety that was coursing through her veins. Velvet saw as Tierra shifted her weight on each foot that her form was almost nonexistent.

This is going to be short and ugly. Velvet thought with a small sense of amusement.

" _Combatants: are you ready?_ "

As everyone taking the exam was instructed to do, Coco and Tierra both raised their right hands in a fist. This set off a long tone that was followed by two more to countdown the beginning of the round. The final tone to officially commence the match sounded, its pitch a higher and longer tone than the three previous. With that, the first match had officially began.

Each match was three rounds long, with each round being 7 minutes. It rarely lasted that long, however. In most cases, the match would end prematurely as one of the combatants would knock the other unfit for further battle. The only times it would last the full 21 minutes were when the two combatants were so equally matched that they could not get the better of the other.

When the final signal sounded, Velvet saw a small smile appear on Coco's face. That was one of the many things that Coco and Velvet had in common in those days: each of them lived for the thrill of battle. Years after those days, Velvet would both fondly and remorsefully recollect those feelings, and often guiltfully long for a small excuse for her to let those emotions freely flow once more. It was those feelings that made her feel dirty, yet there were also the ones that made her feel the most alive, second only to her photography.

Coco's handbag began to morph into her signature gatling gun, which she held with both hands when it was in its final form. Coco did not hesitate to fire the first shots, sending a burst from rubber from her cannon's barrel. Tierra flinched at the sound of Coco's weapon firing, hesitating for a split second to use her gloved hand to thrust a portion of the ring upwards to block the bullets with a large portion of dirt. Tierra was apparently surprised by her own abilities, shaking and laughing uncontrollably behind the mound of earth that her gloved hand still had raised.

"Hey, Princess," Coco shouted. "You gonna come out and fight, or do I gotta come and finish this myself? We're here already. Why not make it a little fun while we're at it?"

With that, Tierra lowered her hand, subsequently lowering her dirt mound. She used a flash-step to come a mere inches from Coco and land a right hook. She then used her gloves to burrow underground and reapper at her original position. Coco chuckled and rubbed the cheek that Tierra had just struck.

"A cheap shot, huh? Well, I'll tell you, Tierra. Any respect I had for you just went away when you did that."

Tierra, in her newfound confidence, raised her hand into a fist. This prompted a large mound of dirt to rise out of the ground to make a large dirt copy of her fist. With a loud battle cry, Tierra rushed Coco with her fist raised.

"How's _this_ to win back your respect?" She shouted.

Velvet turned her eyes back to her friend, who had yet to make any sort of counterattack in light of this new threat. Rather, Coco lifted her hand once more to the spot where Tierra's fist had been. The smile that was once on her face disappeared in an instant. Just as Tierra was on top of her position, Coco held up her index finger with her palm out towards her. Tierra, in a moment of confusion, stopped dead in her tracks with her earth hand stopping as well.

"Are you seriously asking me to wait? Seriously? Right now?" She inquired furiously.

"Shut up." Coco said bluntly, eliciting a shocked look from her opponent.

Coco whipped out a small, silver mirror from her pocket and held it up to her face. When Coco's reflection met her eyes, she scowled deeply in the direction of Tierra.

"You just bruised my face. I have a hot date tonight. I'm gonna have to wear concealer. I _hate_ wearing concealer. Prepare to pay in pain, Princess."

Velvet recalled how Coco would normally say "Prepare to Die" to anyone in Tierra's position, but had previously divulged to Velvet how she would refrain herself to alliteration, as per the rules of the tournament. The rules stated that any type of verbal threats towards a competitor's life would be grounds for disqualification. Coco refused to take that chance.

Coco dashed towards Tierra faster than she could react. Coco grabbed her collar and pulled her ear just against her mouth.

"Do you know what's the same about my face and a painting?" Coco asked through gritted teeth.

'W-what?" Tierra shakily replied.

"They're both considered works of art, they're both priceless, and they-should-not-be-touched."

Just as Tierra was beginning to apologize, Coco threw her higher in the air than Velvet originally thought humanly possible. Just as Tierra was about 15 feet in the air, Coco whipped around her gatling gun and pressed down on the trigger-hard. Velvet's superior sight could see the flesh on Coco's fingers turn white as they pressed down on her weapon. The whiteness of her fingers was one of the many indications of why one should never touch Coco without her permission.

The rubber tips of the bullets could be seen flying through the air as quick green streaks. Out of the 100 rounds fired, Velvet could only see about 40 that sailed past Tierra into oblivion. As Tierra's body began its descent, Coco morphed her weapon back into its handbag form. She sprinted towards the place where Tierra looked to fall and slid under on her knees. Coco extended her arms as Tierra was a few feet above her, breaking her fall when she neared the ground.

The moderators rushed into the ring with a stretcher and took Tierra out of Coco's arms. Tierra's mother ran in as well and did not bother say anything to Coco, concerned only with the condition of her daughter. A moderator helped Coco to her feet, then raised her hand as another came to help his colleague carry Tierra out of the ring.

"Is she going to be alright?" Coco asked with sincere concern.

"Don't worry. She's bruised up, but those rubber bullets of yours aren't enough to cause any real damage. She'll heal up after a few days." The moderator said. She flipped her long blonde hair out of her eyes and pushed it behind her ears. The rest of her hair was set in a ponytail that ran down the black of her light gray shirt, standard issue for all of the moderators at this event.

Coco stayed silent, but smiled at what Velvet perceived to be the first realization that she could guiltlessly savor her victory.

" _Winner: Coco Adel. Can we please have Ms. Velvet Scarlatina and Ms. Icarina Daedalusant to the center of the ring, please? I repeat: Velvet Scarlatina and Icarina Daedalusant to the ring. Thank you."_ The announcer called out.

Velvet sought out Coco first, however. She knew that she was the only one who had come to see Coco fight. Her parents, like Velvet's father, were a Hunter and a Huntress. On a cold night, when Velvet and Coco were only 4 years old, a terrible tragedy befell both of their houses. A large horde with various creatures of Grimm in its ranks stormed the village and broke through its walls. The town possessed only five Huntsmen and Huntresses at that time period, three of them being Coco and Velvet's parents. They were tasked with holding the Grimm at bay for as long as possible until the various Huntsman and Huntresses from neighboring villages could arrive to assist with the villages defense. The five were said to have dispatched at last 15 Grimm each before either being killed themselves or until fresh Huntsmen and Huntresses arrived.

Just before dawn, a small army of 20 Huntsmen and Huntresses entered the city to assist whoever was still alive. By this point, it was said that Velvet's father and Coco's parents had all been killed by this point. People had told them that they continued fighting until they were surrounded in the town square. They bought enough time for the two healthiest Huntsman and Huntress to escape and continue fighting the Grimm and protecting the innocents still in Valkryite. It paid off, but at the price of Velvet's father and Coco's parents' lives.

It was a cloud that was one of the main reasons that Velvet and Coco became friends to begin with. Many would say that their friendship was destiny, that they were meant to fight side-by-side someday as their parents had. Velvet knew nothing about this, and neither did Coco. The two had bonded many times by joking about how many in Valkryite thought that Velvet and Coco would be the "Chosen Ones" to save the world, paired with the same theories brought up because of Coco's eyes.

All joking aside, a heavy heart still filled Velvet's heart whenever she passed by the monument in Valkryite's town square, knowing very well that her father's name was etched on there. She often passed by without looking at the names, save for the anniversary of the day they called "Night of a Thousand Grimm" and her father's birthday, because she couldn't help but burst into tears right there in the square. She hated causing a scene and eliciting people's pity of whom did not really care.

Coco and Velvet embraced each other when they met, shortly followed by a stern look from Coco.

"What the Hell are you doing here? They just called your name. You need to go." Coco advised.

"I had to talk to you first, congratulate you. I wanted to ask: why is it that you got upset over a bruise? You know that your Aura will heal it by the time you go out tonight." Velvet inquired.

"C'mon, Velvet. You know me. If I wanna win a fight, I have to get pissed off for any little reason to help give me that winning edge."

"But-"

"You can ask what you want _later_. You have to go, like _now_." Coco advised.

She shoved Velvet over to the ring. That was where the two hugged and smiled at each other once more.

"Get out there and kick some Miss-Priss ass. I'd wish you luck, but you're gonna rock it anyway. Go get 'em, Velvet."

With that, Velvet vicariously ("Oh, who am I kidding? I was cocky." Velvet said to Rojo) strutted walked to the center of the ring where her opponent, Icarina Daedalusant waited with the moderator. She leaned to one side with her hands on her hips.

"About time, Faunus! Started to get worried that I wouldn't get the chance to give you a royal beatdown. Oh, and I _love_ that little outfit of yours. Brown and Gold with Black leggings? Soo fashion forward. Oh, and all that armor on your ankles and feet? Real smart. Hate for you to sprain a toe."Icarina said with a sneer.

Velvet recalled what it was that Coco had told her about this exact situation. She kept a cool head, and decided to be just as snarky to Icarina.

"Oh, _thank_ you. I love your outfit, too. Did your sugar-daddy in Minstrel buy it for you?"

This remark took the smirk off of Icarina's face. She scowled at the mention of this well-known fact. Everyone in Valkryite had known that Icarina was involved with a middle-aged member of the King's Cabinet in Minstrel. It was rumored that she was part of the most prominent families in Minstrel only because this Cabinet member sent large sums of money to her family to keep them quiet about the affair. Icarina's affair had also provided her with the money to have reconstructive surgery. Icarina had once had floppy dog ears and a short tail that she was always attempting to conceal. Velvet recalled the summer when Icarina took a summer trip to Minstrel, then returned without her distinctive dog-like features.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Faunus." Icarina said.

"The nub on your tailbone would beg to 're as much a Faunus as I am."("I'm having a hard time imagining you being that cold-blooded. You're, like, the nicest person I know." Rojo interjected. Velvet replied with "You'll find out pretty soon why I'm the way I am today.") Velvet said.

Icarina pursed her lips. "I'm going to bury you for saying that, _Faunus_. We are nothing alike; never have been, never will be."

The first portion of Icarina's comment attracted the attention of the moderator between them who was patiently waiting for the trash talking to end.

"Daedalusant, warning. Scarlatina, watch it. Both of you to opposite sides of the ring. Are you both aware of the rules?"

The two nodded and turned to go to the specified destination that the Moderator had previously spoken of. The two, upon reaching the opposite sides of the ring, turned to face each other once more.

" _Competitors: Are you ready?"_ The man behind the loudspeaker inquired.

Both Velvet and Icarina raised their right hand in a fist. This prompted the first tone to be sounded. Velvet's heart beat beat faster than it eslipver had before at this point. Upon the sounding of the same tone the second time, the adrenaline and the rush of the heat of battle flowed through her veins. The third time the same tone sounded, Velvet got into her battle stance, a small feeling of superiority rushing over her. Finally, the last, higher pitched sound rang out, officially commencing the match. Icarina closed her eyes and, seemingly out of nowhere, a metallic set of wings protruded from two large gashes in the back of the dark-green armor that wrapped around her chest and waist. This was paired with detached sections of armor plating (Velvet took this to be for better mobility) that covered her thighs and calves/shins. Her ankles were overlapped by the armor on her shins, and her feet were covered, oddly enough, with seemingly ordinary metallic black sandals. Her eyes and hair, the latter in a tight bun, contrasted her outfit by being a bright orange.

Icarina used her wings to soar twenty feet into the air, where she pulled three full arrow quivers out of thin air, along with a bow that burned as it came to life as one would imagine a phoenix would. Velvet waited to see what Icarina would do, wise enough to not rush into any unforeseen traps. Icarina placed one arrow on her bow, and set Velvet in her sights. Despite this, Velvet still calmly remained stationary. In this moment, Velvet realized that each of the three quivers were ringed with a marker of a different color, with the same color on the heads of the arrows.

Icarina let the arrow fly, a smug grin curling over her face as she watched it fly in the direction of her adversary. Velvet felt the hair on the back of her neck. She knew that she only had one shot to keep herself in the tournament. Velvet waited until the last possible second, then summoned a Hard-Light Copy of a Claymore sword that belonged to a classmate of hers(Velvet had taken care to photograph the weapons and Semblances of all warriors in the town so that she could have them at her disposal). She rushed out of the trajectory of the arrow and, without missing a beat, effectivley cut the arrow through the middle. With that, Velvet had officially taken her place in the battle.

The two locked eyes fiercely from a distance. Velvet watched as Icarina pulled out another two arrows, each from seperate quivers. She flew directly over Velvet and let the first arrow fly. It had a head of white, while the one that had yet to fly possessed one of red. Velvet did not falter, however. She held her ground, and allowed a smile to cross her face.

 _Come at me, and you'll see, I'm more than meets the eye. You think that you'll break me, but you're gonna find in time that you're standing too close to a flame that's burning hotter than the sun in the middle of July._ Velvet thought, remembering lyrics from her favorite rock song that was oddly appropriate for her current situation. She would burn, and Velvet made it her mission to show Icarina and all of the spectators just how brightly.


	4. Chapter 4

Velvet strafed to the left to avoid the first white-banded arrow, but not quickly enough. The arrowhead hit the dirt just inches from her feet and exploded into a ball of white adhesive foam. Velvet's foot was caught in the blast, leaving her immobilized. Icarina wasted no time in putting the second arrow into play, pulling back the string on the bow and firing the red-banded arrow in Velvet's direction.

Velvet knew that she had to act quickly if she were to stay in the match much longer. After a moment of thought, she had formed a plan in her mind. Velvet deduced that, since the white-banded arrow emitted a white, foamy adhesive, then the red-banded arrow must emit an element of the same color. With this in mind, Velvet waited until the arrow was inches from her face. When it was in it's desired positioning, Velvet grabbed the arrow by the middle of its shaft and thrust it into the foam, mindful to not impale her own foot in the process.

Upon contact, the arrow tip explodes with enough power to free Velvet of her entrapment. Unfortunately, it also did so with enough force to send Velvet flying to the edge of the ring. The right half of her battle gear and her face had been turned black by the explosion. She dared not look, but Velvet also felt the sensation that part of her hair had been singed off as well. Overhead, Icarina chortled and shouted insults down at Velvet.

" _Nicely_ done, Velvet. Although,I Wouldn't overestimate myself and make myself out to be anything more than... _that,_ if I were you. Nice hairdo, by the way. Looks a lot better than usual." Icarina punctuated her sentence by pulling out three arrows from her previously unused quiver, whose arrows were marked with a black band.

In what Velvet perceived as an attempt to profit off of her apparent daze, Icarina shot her three arrows in rapid succession. The arrows came in at such a pace behind each other that Velvet did not have time to run. In lieu of the first option, Velvet quickly summoned a Semblance of her father's shield. All three slammed into the Hard-Light copy and splintered without incident.

 _So Black-Bands are normal arrows._ Velvet realized.

"Aww, that's so cute. I guess that shield did you a whole lot better than it did with your father. At least, that's what his bones and his rotting flesh inside of Grimm stomachs can attest to. I guess it's true, then. You _are_ a better warrior than your father. Maybe the next time some Grimm attack, you can actually make it out alive, unlike him." Icarina took her eyes off of Velvet and tilted her head up to the sky, laughing as if she herself was the funniest person on Remnant.

"Velvet." Velvet turned to see Coco, glaring through her sunglasses, Icarina's form reflecting on the black lenses. "Forget everything I told you earlier. Get pissed off. Kick her ass."

A wave of adrenaline shot through Velvet as the copy of her father's shield disappeared under the force of the triple-dose of arrows. She looked up at Icarina, still laughing at herself. This served to enrage Velvet even more. She felt her cheeks become hot with anger. A Hard-Light copy of Icarina's wings morphed onto Velvet's back.

Velvet soared upwards until she was on the same level as Icarina. Icarina took no notice, and continued to laugh. It was only when she opened her eyes to wipe away a tear that she saw her adversary staring her in the eyes, mere feet away. Icarina was physically taken aback, jettisoning herself an additional three feet away from Velvet.

"Damn that Semblance of yours. All you have to do is take _pictures._ We have to buy all of our equipment, while all you ever needed was that damn beat-up camera of yours. It's not fair." She complained.

"Life isn't fair, Miss Priss. Who are you to complain, anyway? You have that

Cabinet Member in Mistral who'll buy you whatever you want."

Further enraged, Icarina pulled out another wax-tipped Black-Band arrow and put it on her bow with the tip inches away from Velvet's face. Without hesitation, Velvet swiped the arrow from Icarina's now-trembling hands and snapped it in two. She let the two pieces of the arrow fall to the ground below. Velvet further pulled down on all three of Icarina's quivers, snapping the leather straps that bound them to her shoulder with ease. Once again, Velvet clasped them in her hands and let them fall to the ground below. Finally, she snatched Icarina's bow out of her hands and slammed it against her knee. The remains burned apart and blew away in the wind.

Velvet looked at Icarina once more.

"Perhaps we should talk about my father some more?" Velvet asked just before decking Icarina, nearly sending her falling to the ground.

"Perhaps we should talk about your wealth and your 'total humanity'?" Icarina was struck once more by the opposite fist.

"Or, most exciting of all, should we talk about how you came to achieve those two things? How about it? ("Ok, Ok. I get you were pissed off, but I could _never_ imagine you calling someone out like that...in public, of all places." Rojo said in disbelief. "Ok, first off, we were in the air, so only she and other Fauna with sensitive hearing would have heard what was said. Second, please stop interrupting. I'll never finish this if you do." Velvet chided. Rojo lifted up his hands defensively and stayed silent).

This last challenge appeared to get a rise out of Icarina. When Velvet attempted to punch her once more, Icarina grabbed Velvet's fist and tightly grasp it. Icarina threw it away, and delivered a right hook of her 's head jerked back as a result of the force of the strike. She quickly turned it back to begin exchanging blows in midair with Icarina. Velvet sent three lightning-fast punches in the direction of Icarina's face and midsection. Two of the three landed, with momentary effect. Icarina spun around to gain enough momentum to deliver a roundhouse kick intended for Velvet's face. Velvet threw up her arms in a cross, which took the brunt of the blow.

It went on like this for several minutes, each of the two slamming their legs and fists into the other, with spotty effectiveness. Finally, it was ended with the sound of the buzzer that signaled the finish of the first round.

The two descended back to the ground, neither of them failing to lose sight of the other. Velvet looked on as Icarina's coach and parents ran on to give her water and a mended set of her quivers. Icarina waved them away, shouting about how she wanted to beat Velvet into the ground with her own two hands. Her attention was broken as Coco patted her on the back.

"You're under her skin. That's good. People make stupid moves when they're pissed off. Just make sure you're not one of them, Got it?" Coco instructed as she handed Velvet water that swiftly went down her throat.

"Of Course." Velvet knew that Coco knew that she had already failed to do this. Icarina's cracks about her deceased father made Velvet go into a near-murderous rage. They did not have long to talk about it, however. The announcer called upon all non-competitors to leave the ring. Coco hugged Velvet once more, as Icarina's parents did before exiting.

Once more, it was just the two of them, save for the moderator, in the ring. Each of them gave the other a death stare. A breeze blew through the ring, sending a small cloud of dust rolling through the space between them. In any other case,Velvet would have laughed at how the two of them resembled characters from an action film set in an ancient, lawless Vacuole.

Velvet realized that this was not the time to be funny. She only had one goal in mind: Defeat Icarina and defend her father's honor. Her hands clenched into fists Once more and she put her body into the proper battle stance that she was accustomed to. Icarina did the same, likely with the same goals as Velvet in mind, except in defense of her own honor, rather than her father's.

The three monotone pitches sounded once more, only to give way to the higher pitched signal to begin combat. Each fighter rushed towards the other, performing acrobatic moves in an attempt to get the best of the other. Velvet was first, performing a 720 spin and extending her leg on the final spin. It connected, sending Icarina onto her back. Icarina quickly recovered, sending a deadly mixture of kicks and punches in Velvet's direction. Velvet blocked most of them, but was bested by the final wave of the barrage. She was knocked onto her knee and open palm, where Icarina managed to forcefully lay her foot under Velvet's chin. A sharp pain and stars filled Velvet's being as she was knocked along further onto her back.

Icarina jumped on top of Velvet's prone body to stomp her foot down on Velvet's chest. As Icarina primed her foot, Velvet grabbed her leg by the calf and thrust her down by Velvet's side, leaving a billowing cloud of dust in the wake of the attack. Velvet rushed to her feet, and waited for Icarina to rise once more. When she did, Velvet took the opportunity to punch her twice in the abdomen, then follow through with a strong open-palm strike to Icarina's cheek.

Once more, Icarina was sent flying to the ground. She landed on her stomach, and did not immediately rise. She got on her hands and knees, and spit a mouthful of her own blood onto the dirt along with three of her reddened teeth. The sight elicited a large collective groan of disgust from the spectators. Icarina looked down and screamed at the sight of her own teeth out of their rightful place in her mouth.

Icarina glared up at Velvet. It was then that Velvet realized one of Icarina's front teeth was missing. She also took note of the absence of Icarina's once cool demeanor. She got up and charged at Velvet. Velvet was able to easily dodge the attack. This fact caused Icarina to scream out in a blood-curdling manner. She looked to her coach, then rushed over to swipe away her Red-banded arrows. She summoned her Bow, wasting no time in recommencing her firing at Velvet.

Velvet realized that Icarina was blindly firing in her general direction, not taking care to leave the spectators out of the crossfire. She knew that she needed to put an end to the fight before someone was seriously injured. The possible ideas how floated in her mind for a moment, until she came up with a solution.

Without missing a beat, she charged at Icarina, taking care to avoid her explosive arrows. Finally, Velvet reached her target and threw away Icarina's bow. Velvet clutched Icarina's arms and rose up.

"What the _hell?"_ asked a terrified Icarina.

Velvet paid no mind, however. She closed her eyes and allowed her full energy to fill the space in her calves and feet. The raw power of her Semblance wrapped around that portion of her body. Her legs began to curl inwards towards her at the knees. A bright green glow emerged. One that Velvet could see, even with closed eyes.

The sensation that her Semblance gave her was unlike any that she had ever felt before. It was a slightly painful twinge, but simultaneously an exhilarating sensation as her Hard-Light copy of a lance wrapped around her feet and calves. Velvet even dared to let a smile cross her lips at the success that she had been blessed with thus far. She flexed her calves repeatedly, as she'd learned long ago that this move would make her legs fall asleep, causing her to fall and become near immobile after it had completed.

Soon, Velvet felt all of her current Semblance energy in her calves and feet. The glow of the lance(Velvet discovered that it was a lance one afternoon when she made the mistake of opening her eyes to look, nearly burning her retinas in the process). She took one deep breath, then another. It was her first time trying this move on a human opponent, so she was unsure as to how it would affect Icarina, or even work.

 _No time like the present to find out, I suppose._

With that, Velvet thrust her legs outward, connecting with what she perceived to be the space between Icarina's chest and midsection. As soon as she felt Icarina's body begin to fly back, she let go and did a graceful backflip through the air. Velvet landed on the balls of her feet and her open palm. Her back remained against the backdrop of Icarina's defeat. Velvet elected to keep her eyes closed until a moderator would raise her hand to signal victory.

 _"Mother! Father!"_ Icarina screamed out suddenly, earsplitting to someone with Velvet's hearing.

Velvet turned her body to look at Icarina. She had failed to rise up, and remained flat on the ground. A small crowd consisting of het parents and moderators had gathered around, the latter poking her legs with needles as they lifted her onto a stretcher.

One of the moderators turned to Icarina's parents and whispered under a cupped hand, " Now, we can't be certain until we run the right tests, but it appears that that Faunus girl's last attack has left her paralyzed from the waist down."

 _"Mother! Father! I can't feel my legs! Oh, God. Why can't I feel my legs?"_ Icarina screamed hysterically.

Icarina was carted away, and everyone's attention was turned on Velvet, including Icarina's mother.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you? You were always jealous of my Icarina, so you took this opportunity to hurt her, didn't you? Or was it because she was affiliated with a politician? Are you a member of the White Fang? Are you one of those...terrorists?"

Velvet was appalled. She had never been accused of being a part of the radical Faunus group before now, and did not know what to say.

"N-No. It was all an accident. You have to believe me. I-"

"Enough lies! Someone, restrain her before she gets away!" Mrs. Daedalusant commanded.

With that, a large group of people began to circle around Velvet. She got to her feet and looked around, searching for some means of escape. Finally, she found a hole in between two would-be captors. She summoned a Hard-Light rapier as an empty threat and dashed into the hole. Out of fear of being stabbed, no one dared attempt to grab Velvet.

"Velvet!" Coco cried out from somewhere behind Velvet. "Velvet, come back-What the hell are you doing?"

Velvet found Coco's change of tone odd, but did not look back to see what had caused it. She continued running until she was deep in the woods, until she had returned to her house. Her feet stopped with the sudden realization that this would likely be the last time she would ever see this place.

Shaking these depressing thoughts out of mind, Velvet rushed inside and found her largest satchel first. From there, she hurried into the kitchen and began filling it with bottled water, cans of potted lunch meat, and other assorted bits of necessary foods. She then tightly rolled her sleeping bag into the satchel and pressed two extra changes of clothes. Velvet threw her brown coat over her shoulders, and was about to step out when she thought of her family, and knew they would want answers concerning her sudden departure. Without another moment's hesitation, Velvet sat down at the dinner table and began writing, tears in her eyes.

 ** _Dear Mother and Jacob, something terrible has happened. I have committed a terrible accident and, for both your safety and mine, cannot stay here any longer. I am leaving Ein in your care and pray you will look after him well. I am sorry for any pain that I may have or will cause you. I never wished for this to happen and, no matter what anyone says, I am NOT A TERRORIST.  You will likely never see or hear from me again. I love you both, _**

**_Velvet_**

Wiping the tears from her eyes, and scolding herself for allowing some to fall on the paper, she folded it and wrote "Mother and Jacob" on the front. As if on cue, Ein skittered down the hallway and began to bark as he always did until Velvet picked him up and held him up against her. He was a small blonde Pomeranian that Velvet had found on the street two years ago. Ein was lethargic and near death, but Velvet managed to bring him back into the speeding ball of fur that he was today.

He frantically licked Velvet's face as much as he possibly could. Normally, Velvet would push him away. However, given the circumstances of today, she allowed it, considering she would likely never see Ein again. ("Ok, ok. I know you said no interrupting, but how did you have the time to do all this? Wasn't the entire town after you?" Velvet replied with "Two reasons: 1) Our house was not the easiest place to get to. 2) Hardly anyone knew where we lived!." Rojo then abruptly got up and went over to the alley, where he remained for several seconds. He then returned, sat, and simply said "Not paralyzed.") After a few seconds more, Velvet put Ein down and stroked his back.

"Oh, Ein. I'd take you if I could, but you're a big softie who can't handle the outdoors. Plus, you'll have a better home here." Velvet bent down and kissed Ein's wet nose. "I'll never forget you."

That was the moment that she realized Ein would never truly be able to comprehend what was going on. He would only see this as Velvet going on a long trip that she could return from any day. Velvet pictured Ein sitting by the door year after year, waiting for the master who would never come. Knowing her time was running thin, Velvet took one last look at her home, then walked out. She dared not wake her brother or mother, fearful that they may impede on her departure, or, even worse, attempt to come with her. She walked out the door, and closed it for what she was sure was the last time.

Velvet began to run in the direction opposite of her house and the town, when Hansel jumped out from behind one of the trees in front of her. Velvet yelped and summoned a Dagger to put at Hansel's throat. Hansel carefully eyed the Hard-Light copy, then awkwardly laughed.

"Now let's not make any stupid decisions, ok?" He requested.

"Why are you here?"

"I saw the fight. I know they're wrong. What happened was an accident, and you aren't a terrorist. I wanna help you until you can clear your name."

"What of your family? What of Greta?"

"I already explained what's happening, and I didn't let them stop me. Greta's a big girl. She can handle herself without me."

"I may never come back. Are you prepared for that?"

"Absolutely. I already explained that. They didn't want me to go, but I came anyways. You need my help, Velvet. I know these woods like the back of my hand. I can show you all of the vacant cabins and where to get all the right supplies. I want to help, and I'm the best chance you got."

"Do you have your Feng Huo Lun?" Velvet inquired.

Hansel revealed the circular blades from his satchel and held them up for Velvet to see. For simplicity, everyone in Valkryite referred to them as "Wind and Fire Wheels". They were two black metal wheels, sitting at approximately 38 centimeters in diameter. One quarter section of the blades was padded with a dark blue foam, with a cross-guard. The other three sections of the two rings were fitted with long blades that resembled black flames. When necessary, Hansel could thrust both wind gusts and balls of fire at will from each respective wheel. Even when the wind and fire were nit employed, the jagged outer edges could still prove to be a deadly threat to the Grimm, allowing Hansel to slash, thrust, stab, parry, and even disarm human opponents.

"Of course I do. Wouldn't be much help to you if I had to have you protect me, now would I?"

"Good. Ok, you said you knew a place where we could hide out. Point the way."

Hansel pointed to a denser part of the woods north of the village.

"There's a vacant cabin that way. It's about ten miles away. If we hurry, we can get there by dusk. That'll buy us some time until morning."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, it's common knowledge that the Grimm are most active at night. They're not gonna risk losing a dozen of their villagers looking for a single teen. If anything, they'll stake this area out to see if you'll come back. Once dawn hits tomorrow, we'll hit the road again and get further away from here. Sound good?"

Without a word, Velvet summoned Icarina's wings again and began to rise above the treeline. She looked down and watched as Hansel used his Wind-and-Fire Wheels to claw up the nearest tree and propel himself high up in the air. He then propelled himself forward at the same speed that Velvet flew. He looked up at Velvet and smiled.

One word came to Velvet's mind in that moment: _resourceful_

The two sailed through the air side by side for miles. Every so often, Velvet would turn around and see if there would be smoke rising up above the trees from the torches of angered townsfolk, or the sounds of their enraged shouts. Velvet did this often, and was consistently relieved to see that there was no visible pursuers. She turned back to her normal flying position. She looked out at the treeline to see if she spot any large wooden structures sticking up out of the treeline. Whenever she failed see anything, her eyes drifted down to Hansel, who was artistically doing backflips, somersaults, and other forms of acrobatics as he flew from tree to tree.

"It should be somewhere near here!" Hansel called out.

"Don't shout so loud!" Velvet called back at the same volume.

Hansel performed a handstand on the tree that he was on, pushing himself upward to Velvet's level.

"I could tell you the same thing, Ms. Scarlatina." He said with a laugh.

Velvet put her fist in her mouth as she stifled a laugh. Hansel was overtaken by gravity and cut into the tree just under him. The two continued flying until Velvet caught sight of a wooden roof. Her Semblance disappeared from her back, and she fell onto the soft grass from about 15 feet. Velvet positioned her body in the precise manner so that she wouldn't cause any severe injury to herself. This was not the case with Hansel. He swung himself into the clearing around the cabin, and failed to stick his landing. He rolled onto his side several times, stopped only by the interjection of Velvet's foot. He looked up at her and laughed.

"And they say you shouldn't put your feet in other people's messes." Hansel said with a laugh.

"Who exactly says that?" Velvet asked with a cock of her head and an incredulous look.

"...People." He replied with a sense of false confidence.

Velvet shook her head and extended her hand to help Hansel up off the ground. He accepted it, and they stood side-by-side to view the single floor wooden cabin. There was a chimney built in, as well as a well-constructed porch that was overshadowed by a supported extension of the roof. There were two windows that proved Hansel's theory that the structure was indeed vacant.

Velvet and Hansel entered the house. She made sure to check all of the rooms to be sure of its total _vacancy._ Satisfied that it was, she aimed to find a room that she could sleep in. Velvet was exhausted beyond words, and wanted nothing more than to take a bath (thankfully, the cabin possessed a bathroom and running water) and sleep until dawn, unless Hansel wished to sleep in shifts.

The sun had begun to set over the world of Remnant, casting a purple hue over the sky and treeline. Velvet looked up closely at the sky and noticed a large black creature who's face was all too familiar to Velvet: it was a Nevermore. Upon looking into the woods surrounding Hansel and herself, she saw the red eyes of three Beowulfs staring back at her.

Velvet rushed away from the window to find Hansel laying all of his supplies onto the bed of the room he'd claimed as his own. He looked up as Velvet rushed in.

"What's up?" He asked

"Beowulf. Three of them, and a Nevermore flying overhead."

Hansel covered his mouth and swore quietly. He paced around the room for several seconds.

"Ok," Hansel began. "They're attracted by negative thoughts, so we just let them be. Go and take a bath, and think of the most happy thing possible."

"Little hard to think positive right now." Velvet said.

"Well, _try to._ Our lives are kind of on the line here."

"Ok, and you do the same."

"Already there. Now go."

Velvet nodded walked slowly to the bath. While submerged in the warm water, she recalled the time that Jacob and herself took Ein to the beach. They laughed at the way he attempted eat the incoming waves and the way he rolled around in the sand. She held onto these thoughts as she crawled under the bedsheets. She locked the bedroom door and dreamed about frivolous teenage things that she did not remember the day after. An hour before dawn,a knock made Hansel's presence on the other side known. Velvet had been awake for at least an hour beforehand.

She had spent it getting dressed in a fresh pair of clothes and debating whether or not she should rummage through the homeowner's food supplies. She eventually decided not to, claiming thievery was beneath her. When she opened her door, Hansel was standing there with a plate of scrambled eggs, complete with a fork.

"I know what you're gonna say, but think about it this way: with what you're on run for, is few missing eggs _really_ gonna make that much of a stir?"

Velvet realized that Hansel was right, and let her morals bend slightly to ease the aching in her stomach that she had refused to allow to have potted meat. Knowing that time was of the essence, Velvet quickly slid the eggs into her mouth, then washed the plate out of habit.

"Claim to be in a hurry, yet you insist on washing the plate? That makes total sense." Hansel said with a chuckle.

"We can't leave the house in a pigsty."

"Fair enough. Can we go now?"

Velvet ran back to the room she slept in, grabbed her satchel, then proceeded to rendezvous with Hansel at the front door. She nodded, and Hansel held the door open for his female counterpart. They stood on the porch, Velvet curious of where to go from that point.

"So..." She began. "What do we do from here?"

"We do what any fugitives from the law would do."

"And what is that?"

"We run."


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: Sorry for the belated chapter update, fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses. I was extremely busy yesterday and could not find the time to update. Plus, I had to do quite a bit of research to ensure that this chapter was 100% accurate. Also, a small editing error: In the opening of Chapter 2, the header reads "4 years earlier". This should actually read "2 years earlier". I didn't notice it initially, and am terribly sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Also, for any of you with doubts, I know exactly where I'm going with this story, so have no fear, Huntsmen and Huntresses! Now, without further ado, I give you the fifth chapter of Velvet's tale._

Velvet and Hansel had already commenced to walking through the dense forest in the direction opposite of Valkryite and the cabin they had inhabited. They had elected to walk out of concern for rationing the limited amount of Dust they had for Hansel . Neither of them had wanted to risk expending it all via flight and leave themselves one Huntsman vulnerable to an ambush by the Nevermore or the pack of Beowulf that they had seen the night before. Not only that, but the physical strain that long amounts of Semblance use had on Velvet's body would leave her weak, as well.

"So where are we going now?" Velvet had inquired a few minutes into the trip.

"For now, we'll focus only on getting more and more distance between us and Valkryite. In order to do that, I suggest we continue hiking and stop for 2 meals." Hansel kept his eyes forward while he spoke, and threw up his index and middle finger at the end of his dialogue to give visual representation of the number of meals that he had specified.

Velvet's attention was momentarily grabbed by the capture of his sudden movement within her peripheral vision, which prompted to turn her head in the direction of Hansel. She soon realized that no more dialogue would be offered by Hansel on the subject, so she equally abdicated the conversation and turned her acute senses to the sky.

She did not see the large, black form of the Nevermore, and had not seen such a creature for several hours. Hansel did not seem the least bit worried of the apparent tracking actions being taken out against them by the pack of Beowulf. This was even more odd during their initial conversation about it.

"The Beowulf are...tracking us." She said with genuine concern.

"I know they're walking in the same direction as us, but it's not tracking. The Grimm aren't that cunning. If they see prey, they just attack with brute strength. They don't strategize. They don't coordinate with each other, at least not that I've seen. They just...kill."

"I don't know. I've never seen behavior like this either, but that doesn't mean we should immediately write it off as nothing. We could be witnessing _history."_

"Right, cuz that's what everyone wants to hear," Hansel said with a chuckle. "A scientific discovery made against two criminals on the run from the law."

Velvet laughed as well, and turned her back to the pack, as she had done now, keeping her ears on the prowl for any sound that could indicate a strike from behind. She consistently looked over her shoulder in the unlikely event that her superior hearing would forsake her.

Velvet did not realize how much she was doing this until she felt Hansel place his large hand on her shoulder, almost prompting her to stop. He looked over at her to gaze into his piercing blue eyes. The shadows of the trees in the mid-afternoon sunlight were partially cast down on his face, momentarily reminding Velvet of paintings of ancient warriors that she had seen in books and in school. He cocked an eyebrow to convey the concern that he felt.

"If they make you that nervous, we can take them out, here and now. That way we'll only have to worry about the Nevermore showing back up." He offered.

"What about our dust?" Velvet replied questioningly.

"We can spare enough until we get to the nearest village, if we take them out quickly and efficiently."

Velvet debated it for a minute, coming up with only a single pair of questions.

"How are we going to buy Dust if we don't have Lien? And how are we going to evade detection by doing it?"

Hansel smiled and momentarily looked through the woods ahead of them, taking his eyes away from Velvet's. It was as if he had previously rehearsed this exact conversation in his mind, and was recalling his next line in the script.

"I've actually been thinking about that a lot. We're gonna run out of supplies eventually, such as food and Dust. My guess is that the news stations have likely pegged you as the attacker, and that I'm your hostage. They've probably plastered our faces over every news station, on every computer and scroll, and on every street corner. Everyone in Vale probably knows what we look like by now. Plus, your bunny ears are a dead giveaway. Yeah, I'd imagine our faces have already been sent across the CCT to the other three kingdoms. Lien isn't a problem; I packed enough to last for at least a year if we use it wisely."

"How did you manage to get that much Lien? Your parents?" Velvet interjected.

Hansel cleared his throat and looked at Velvet with an expression she interpreted as fear. He quickly looked away and and took his hand off of Velvet's shoulder, using it to rub the back of his neck.

Velvet leaned in as they continued walking, studying the apprehensive Hansel's countenance. Velvet scowled and narrowed her eyes.

"Hansel?" She said firmly.

"Yes, Velvet?"

"Did you steal that Lien?"

"Did I steal it? Uh, yeah. Yeah I did."

Now it was Velvet's turn to face straight ahead, staring down the immense sea of trees. It was the first time all day that her mind was taken off of the Beowulf pack.

"I know that our situation is desperate, Hansel, but that is no excuse for thievery. I know that you don't see it as too big of a problem, but we can't put other people out simply because we're in a dire predicament."

Velvet, out of her peripheral vision, saw Hansel put his head down in what she perceived to be shame.

"I'm sorry, Velvet. But...I didn't know what else to do. We need Lien to survive, and I didn't have enough to support both of us."

"I forgive you. Just don't let yourself slip again. We don't need to act the part of hardened criminals simply because the media has branded us as such."

Hansel nodded and raised his head once more.

"So," he said. "Back to the topic of our unwanted stalkers."

"We make our cuts clean, quick, and efficient. Not only because we only have so much Dust left for you, but because we don't need to punish these beasts simply because they're acting in their nature."

Velvet turned to face the three Beowulf, watching Hansel follow suit. She looked over at him as his face scrunched in an inquisitive manner.

"Wait a minute. What do you mean, we only have so much Dust for _me_? Do you not need Dust?"

"No. I thought you knew that. I'm a mage. It runs in my family."

"Well, now. I kinda feel like an asshole for not asking about all of this earlier. Why didn't you say anything?"

"The answer to your question, Hansel, has already been provided by yourself." Velvet curtly replied as she slid her satchel off of her shoulder. Hansel saw this and did the same, likely seeing the tactical disadvantage that the swinging bag was liable to pose.

Velvet summoned a Hard-Light copy of Tierra's gloves as Hansel fitted his Wind-and-Fire Wheels in his hands. She lifted large 2 mounds of dirt with trees in them from each side of Hansel and herself and hurled them at the creatures of Grimm. As planned, the mounds stunned the creatures just long enough for Hansel and Velvet to execute a proper assault against them. Velvet's copy of Tierra's gloves disappeared, replaced by one of her classmate's rapier.

Velvet and Hansel dashed towards the Beowulf, who were coming out of their stunned states and becoming battle-ready once more. Velvet jumped high over the body of the Beowulf closest to her, and proceeded to land on it's back. Velvet rapidly slashed at the nape of its neck, leaving it open for her to transition to her copy of a Claymore that was equipped with Gravity Dust. Without missing a beat, she thrust the blade deep into the head of the beast, sliding it into the area underneath the hardened area of the Beowulf's head. The creature sunk to the ground, but still attempted to rise. Velvet held the Claymore high above her head, then swiftly brought it down over the area she was just on. Two such strikes severed the head of the Beowulf.

Her adversary defeated, Velvet turned her attention to the status of Hansel. He was furiously thrusting his blades into the undersides of his Beowulf's head, adding to its prevalent immobility as evidenced by the slash marks in its front legs. After several more seconds of such contact to the Beowulf's throat and jaw, it completely sank to the ground, dead.

As Hansel reveled in his victory over the creature, the third Beowulf, who had been waiting for the opportunity to pounce on its human prey, saw such a chance and attempted to take it. Velvet did not have the chance to warn Hansel of the danger. Taking initiative in order to save her companion's life, she dove over the disintegrating bodies of the two previous Beowulf and summoned a longsword.

The weapon's blade was 110 Centimeters in length, living up to it's name with it's extended, double-edged characteristics. An additional 28 Centimeters were added on to the dimensions of the massive sword by the cruciform hilt. The sword was so long, and summoned with such velocity that Velvet was required to wield it with both of her hands.

Upon her landing, Velvet slid onto her knees, pushed in the direction of her target. Velvet swung the longsword upwards as she came underneath the Beowulf's body. This feat required so much force from her that she cried out as a result of the strain. Velvet felt the Hard-Light copy of the weapon connect into the throat, prompting her to continue pushing upward and close her eyes, barely able to withstand the pain. She continued pushing until she felt no more resistance, then opened her eyes to look at her target.

The Beowulf's head had slid off of it's body and fallen to the ground. It's body had begun to disintegrate, as the others already had. Velvet chuckled at Hansel's and her hard-earned victory, not even noticing the disappearance of the longsword from her hands. An overwhelming feeling of exhaustion overcame Velvet, and she slid backwards until her back met the hard earth. Hansel rushed over to help her up, but was impeded upon by Velvet's waving him away.

"I'm fine." She said from her back, looking up at Hansel as he bent over her with his hands on his knees. "I just need a moment to rest here."

Hansel said nothing, but stuck out his lower lip and nodded. He knelt down and took a seat on the ground adjacent to Velvet. He dug around in his satchel after placing his Wind-and-Fire Wheels in their pouch,and removed two bottles of water. One of the bottles found it's way into Velvet's hand, for which she thanked Hansel.

Velvet propped herself on her elbows and allowed a generous swig of water to swish around in her mouth before allowing it to sink down her throat. She looked up at Hansel and smiled. Hansel returned it, then congratulated her with her spectacular performance.

"I would bow, but I'm kind of on my back at the moment." She said with a laugh.

"Perhaps we should get going, then. If you're ready, that is." Hansel said.

In lieu of a verbal reply, Velvet extended her arm. Hansel took the signal and stood up, grabbing Velvet by her wrist. He lifted Velvet up to her feet and slid his satchel back onto his shoulder. Velvet placed her hands on her back and stretched.

"So what now?" Hansel asked.

"Tell me more about your little plan to evade detection." Velvet said.

"Oh. That? Well, I was thinking of it going a little like this: I'm going to dye my hair jet-black, right? Then I'm going to go into towns with a cloak and sunglasses. You'll stay here in the woods, since I imagine tying your ears back would be unbearably irritating. Am I right?"

"You are. I would always have to do that when I was little to avoid being made fun of and picked on. After a while, I learned to stand up for myself and began fighting back. I hated doing that and am glad with staying behind while you go into villages for supplies. For now, however..." Velvet pulled four slices of bread along with a can of potted meat out of her satchel. Velvet chuckled with glee and pulled back the metal lid via the metal ring attached. Velvet summoned a Hard-Light copy of a butter knife, and began slicing into the soft meat into four sections. She pulled out two sections and laid them on a single slice of bread side-by-side. A second slice was placed on top of the meat-covered bread. With another small chuckle, Velvet handed the sandwich to Hansel.

Hansel eyed the sandwich suspiciously. Velvet suspected that he had never had the blessing of eating a potted meat sandwich, and had decided to ask him about it.

"My family never really fed me this type of stuff. We normally just ate unprocessed meats and vegetables, and fruits. My father called this stuff "the crap that people who weren't serious Huntsman contenders would shove down their loser gizzards".

Velvet had just finished making her sandwich in the same manner that she had done with Hansel's. When Hansel had finished giving his reason as to why he had never tried potted meat. The only initial reaction that Velvet gave Hansel was a blank, emotionless stare. She took a bite into her sandwich and offered the same stare.

"Your father's world view is depressing." Velvet took another bite, still offering an apathetic stare in Hansel's direction. He looked back her for as long as he could while keeping a straight face. Velvet was silently amused as she saw Hansel fail and begin to laugh uncontrollably. A small smile came across Velvet's face observing Hansel's antics. She realized that they allowed her to relax a small amount despite all of the stress surrounding them.

 _Speaking of..._

"We should probably get going. We don't wanna stay in the same place for too long. Don't want to give our pursuers too much of a push. Plus, there's the Grimm to worry about. We don't want to make it too easy for our foes to find us." Velvet advised.

Hansel nodded and turned to begin walking. Velvet followed behind, still munching on her sandwich gleefully. Hansel, to Velvet's dismay, swallowed the rest of his sandwich in a single gulp, not bothering to savor it as Velvet wanted him to. She took care to munch small bites, like a small bird would.

"You know, I always imagined you'd had a thing for carrots."

Velvet sped in front of Hansel and stopped him dead in his tracks. She prodded a finger into his chest.

"And just _why_ would you think that?" Velvet asked, punctuating her 'why' with an additional poke into his chest.

Hansel closed his eyes and nervously laughed.

"Oh, well. It's just because...you know..."

"No. I don't. Enlighten me." Velvet sarcastically requested.

"It was a stupid joke, is all. I'm sorry."

"I. Don't. Eat. Carrots...Rabbits eat carrots. I am NOT a rabbit!"

Hansel opened his eyes once more and darted them around.

"We should really get moving."

"Yeah. We should."

With that, the two continued to walk in silence for the next few miles, trudging(from Velvet's point of view) aimlessly through trees. After a while, the trees began to meld into a single entity. No two trees were different to Velvet's eyes. Her feet began to become sore, as well, but she did not dare complain. The last thing that Velvet wanted to do was appear as a burden on her companion. One of the first things that she was taught in her life was, in times of great trial, the worst thing that one could do to cripple their party was not pull their own weight.

"Where's the next safehouse? Assuming there is one?" Velvet asked.

Hansel closed his eyes as he had done before, like an actor who is blanking out on the set of a TV program. After several seconds of walking, he opened his eyes once more. Hansel looked over at Velvet, his eyes revealing to an extremely perceptive companion that he had an answer planned in his mind.

"There's an abandoned Dust mine that we can sleep in, if such accommodations will suit a Faunus of your stature." He said, softly chuckling at his own joke.

"It's fine," Velvet said, feeling the need to hurry to any resting place possible and get in however many hours of sleep she could until either dawn of the day after or her shift of watching while Hansel took a turn of sleeping.

"How many miles away is this place? Any idea?" Velvet inquired, partially out of genuine curiosity and partially out of the desire to hear something other than the blowing of the wind through the trees and birds singing while soaring overhead.

"If memory serves, then it's about a mile and a half. We shouldn't be there before too long."

Velvet grunted in acknowledgment and remained silent for a period.

The two walked into an open clearing, where the sun beat down upon Velvet's head without mercy. Velvet placed the hand that she did not have on the strap of her satchel over her eyes to shield them from the brightness of the sunlight. Hansel shoved his hands in pockets and squinted his eyes. His satchel swung freely while hanging off of his shoulder, moving with every step that Hansel took.

Velvet's eyes moved upwards to the blue sky out of habit. There was not a single cloud to be seen over them. To her silent relief, there was also no Nevermore either. However, that relief was short-lived as an Atlesian Military troop transport. The appearance of it's long,sleek silver body was the only thing that Velvet could possibly imagine that was worse than another Nevermore sighting.

"Oh..." Velvet trailed.

"Damn." Hansel finished.

As the transport's landing gears touched the grassy clearing, Velvet struggled to find a means for escape. A strong fight-or-flight dilemma overtook her, and she looked to Hansel for a solution. His face was oddly calm, as if he had been planning on what do in the event that an event such as the one now occurred. His eyes looked to Velvet, then to the nearby tree line. Velvet understood his signal perfectly.

The two stood perfectly stationary as the Atlesian troops disembarked their transport. These soldiers wore body armor that covered their upper bodies. It was a white-gray color, with several different highlights along the helmet and arms, varying based on the individual. Their helmets covered their faces entirely, barring their mouths. Their pants were black, with some gray areas on them,paired with a utility belt of sorts that was complete with a small number pouches with unknown contents. A black handgun was strapped to their hips along with a sword in a collapsed state that was fitted to their lower backs Just above these swords was a rifle, of which most of the troops immediately placed in their hands. Others, likely preparing for any possible contingency, extended their swords and held them firmly with two hands.

"You two! Stay where you are, and drop to your knees with your hands on your head! You are under arrest by order of the 4 Kings!" The closest soldier said, his rifle trained on Velvet from a distance of approximately 4 and a half meters. He was one of (based on Velvet's quick counting) 12 soldiers who slowly began to circle around Hansel and herself.

"Ok. On three, we make a break for the treeline at 8 o' clock. Got it?" Hansel whispered.

"Yeah. One..."

The Atlesian soldier who had previously addressed Velvet took note of Hansel's moving mouth.

"Stop talking! Do as we command or you will be shot!"

"Two..." Hansel whispered back.

"Last Warning!" The soldier said. "Get on your knees with your hands on your head!"

"Three!"

The pair ran away from the incoming soldiers, attracting their gunfire and commands to stop. Velvet made short work of dashing through the clearing in a zig-zag motion to avoid the gunfire. She dived behind one of the trees adjacent to the one that Hansel had taken shelter behind.

"Ok, we're here. What's next on your plan?"

Unlike before, Hansel's answer was quick .

"We have two choices here: either we run and cross our fingers that we lose them and don't attract any Grimm along the way. Or we take the better long-term, yet equally risky option."

"Which is?" Velvet asked, having a good idea already of what the answer would be.

"We stay and fight. Make sure there's no one to follow us." He said in a grim tone.

Velvet had a small moral objection to harming innocents who were only following orders, but she saw no other way to simultaneously keep themselves alive and free.

 _Then again, they are shooting as us._

Velvet felt the heat of the Dust bullets as they zipped past the edges of the tree she protected her person with. Small pieces of bark and wood were splintered off of the tree as the rounds dug themselves into it, evicting the splinters from their place on Velvet's makeshift cover. She risked a look around the trunk and quickly took note of the defensive positions that the Atlesian soldiers had taken, both in and behind their transport as well as in the wavy green grass in crouching and prone positions. Velvet quickly ducked back behind the battered tree as the soldiers put her head in their crosshairs.

"There's eight in the field and four more in the transport. I say we only use nonlethal methods, such as my Hard-Light Bo and your Wind Wheel. We don't need to kill these people for simply doing their jobs."

Hansel put his satchel in his lap and opened the pouch that carried his Wind-and-Fire Wheels. He pulled out his Wind wheel and turned it, his hand firmly grasping the grip. The Atlesian soldiers had ceased firing, likely waiting to see if Hansel and herself would surrender.

"There's nowhere for you to run! Surrender and the 4 Kingdoms may spare you the death penalty for the attempted murder of a member of the royal family!" The Atlas guard from before shouted. Velvet fought the urge to laugh at the sound of the guard's voice cracking as he struggled to project his voice from his position. It was then that Velvet processed the guard's last statement, but did not fully understand. She turned to Hansel to see if he had noticed

"Wait. What did he mean by 'Royal Family'? Icarina was the Cabinet member's mistress, not his wife." Velvet said.

Hansel curled his index finger and placed it to his lips, furrowing his brow in deep concentration. Then he snapped his fingers, giving visual confirmation that he had indeed found a potential answer to Velvet's question.

"That's it. The other 3 Kingdoms wouldn't have aided Mistral with finding us if you had been accused of trying to hurt a Cabinet member's mistress. Not unless that mistress was his wife."

"No. You don't think so?"

"If he didn't, then he would look highly suspicious pushing for a manhunt in a separate Kingdom over some teenage girl in an obscure village. All the right powerful people would ask all the right questions with all the right incentives to get the right answer. That would lead to a scandal that would put all of Mistral in a bad light. To avoid that, this Cabinet member likely had a quickie marriage with Icarina to validate the push for the manhunt. The other Kingdoms likely had bleeding hearts for Icarina's plight, had no problem with trying to apprehend the 'terrorists' who hurt the newest member of Mistral's Royal family. All the right people won't care enough to ask questions out of risk of appearing to be apathetic to the Cabinet member's plight and/or terrorist sympathizers. It's more convenient this way. Apparently, I was wrong about them seeing me as a hostage of yours, to top off. So, we gonna take care of the problem?"

"Of course, but I have an idea of how we should go about it." Velvet said with a smirk, the kind that gave away the moment when a small light-bulb went off inside of someone's brain.

"By all means, enlighten me." He said with a smile, momentarily looking into the trees facing them.

Velvet and Hansel stepped out of the treeline with their hands on their head, as the Atlas soldiers had commanded. They walked slowly, wary enough to not make any sudden movements that may get them killed. The grass brushed along their ankles as they slowly made their way closer and closer to the Atlesians. Finally, there were a mere three meters away from their would-be captors.

"Stop. That's close enough. Now get down on your knees." A different soldier from before commanded.

Velvet and Hansel complied, slowly dropping to their knees. Two of the soldiers broke ranks and attempted to block off any potential escape. Velvet's hair began to stand on end as her peripheral vision let her view the soldiers maneuver themselves in such a manner. Hansel called to her. Upon bringing him into full view, Velvet looked at her companion. He nodded and she nodded back.

"Stop nodding. Keep your heads forward." The first guard commanded.

"Oh, shit. Sir, he's got a-!" One of the guards behind the two attempted to call out a warning, but ultimately for nothing.

Hansel pulled his Wind Wheel out from the back of his neck and let loose a large gust of wind that sent the Atlas soldiers in front of them flying backwards. The two stood and began to spring the rest of their trap. Velvet turned and summoned her Hard-Light copy of a Bo staff. The two Atlas soldiers, one armed with a sword and the other with a rifle. The soldier armed with a sword had red markings on his armor, while the rifle-toting soldier had blue ones adorning his set.

The blue Atlesian soldier fired two bursts from his rifle, which Velvet easily deflected with her Bo, causing it to disappear. The second soldier took the disappearance of her weapon as an opportunity to attack. The red-armored Atlesian charged and slashed at Velvet. She clutched the blade, then proceeded to use it as a springboard to sail through the air and land behind the soldiers. Velvet clutched the red-armored soldiers helmet and expertly pinched the precise points necessary to cause the man to lose consciousness. Once he slumped to the ground, Velvet picked up his sword and proceeded to slice the blue-armored Atlesian's in two. Without missing a beat, Velvet struck the soldier's face with the hilt of the sword, cutting his cheek and knocking him unconscious.

Her two attackers defeated, Velvet turned her attention to Hansel. From what she could see, her counterpart had his situation well in hand. Four of the guards were unconscious(she hoped Hansel would show such restraint), and the other four were attempting to form a circle around Hansel. Velvet dashed in the direction of the skirmish and, quite literally, dove right in. The nape of her neck and her back connected with the grass, giving her enough momentum to roll up onto her feet without stopping. She put her back against Hansel's as four soldiers surrounded them.

She turned her head back so that Hansel could hear her.

"You ready for this?"

"Yeah. Just try not to hog all the fun, ok?" He said, trying to break the near-impenetrable ice of the current situation.

Velvet grunted in acknowledgment. She felt in no mood to laugh at Hansel's bad attempt at humor.

"We'll go on three?" Velvet asked

"Sure."

"Ok. One..."

"Three." Hansel said before prematurely jumping at his targets.

"What are you-? Oh, forget it." Velvet complained before jumping into action (once again, quite literally) at her own two targets.

Both of the Atlesians that she dove at had their swords extended. One of them, in armor underlined with yellow, drew his pistol as well, firing three rounds at the advancing Velvet. She spun through the air to avoid them, and was successful in dodging two of them. The third, however, connected with her thigh. Velvet felt a burning sensation as the Dust bullet made passage into her flesh. Despite the searing agony she had never felt before in her young life, Velvet had the presence of mind to summon a Hard-Light copy of a Warhammer to defend herself.

She swung the hammer, connecting it with the chest of the Atlesian who shot her, sending him flying three meters back. Velvet landed hard on her side in front of the second soldier, who's armor was lined with blue, just as his comrade him had. He stood over Velvet, with an all-too familiar smile that one had when they felt the fight was in their favor. He stuck the end of his blade just inches from Velvet's nose.

"I'll give you one more chance to come nicely." He smugly said.

Velvet glared at the soldier. There were few times in her life when she hated someone more than she did that soldier in that moment.

"With all due respect, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to go to hell instead."

This only made the soldier chuckle. He placed both of his hands on the sword, and held it with the blade pointed down, directly over Velvet's chest.

"I thought you'd say that. Have it your way."

The soldier lifted his sword and began to thrust it in a downward motion. ("Whoa whoa whoa." Rojo interjected. "What?" Velvet inquired. "These guys were supposed to bring you and this Hansel dude in alive, yet this soldier was literally about to drive his sword into you. What the hell?" Velvet thought for a moment before answering, recollecting a relevant memory. "I thought about that myself a while after. I suppose the reason he did that is because he thought that Hansel and I had killed his comrades. Either that, or he was just bloodthirsty and I happened to give him the perfect excuse to off me." Rojo looked off and nodded. "Any other questions, Rojo?" She asked."None that I'm sure won't be answered later on, like why I can't remember any of this being on the news or anything." "Oh, that." Rojo said nothing, while Velvet continued. "I'll get to that later. Now, where was I?" "You were about to get stabbed." Rojo said.)

The blade was thrust down, and Velvet shut her eyes, bracing herself for the feeling of a painful death. However, the feeling never , Velvet felt a large gust of wind blow over her, followed by the sound of a pained grunt coming from who she assumed to be the soldier. Slowly, Velvet opened her eyes. She saw nothing but blue sky, initially. After a few seconds, however, a concerned Hansel bent over her and got her to her feet. She attempted to walk on her injured leg, still being closed by her aura. The leg failed to support her frame and she fell onto her hands and knees. Hansel helped her up, supporting her as the two made their way to the vacant troop transport.

"We can't use that." Velvet advised through her pain-induced gritted teeth. "They all have tracking beacons. They'll find us."

"Only if we fly it to our destination. We're not that stupid. I'll fly it past where we're going, and then we can walk back. We're going to have to skip out on the Dust mine;too close by. We'll see if we can find another vacant house or cabin. Sound good?"

"I'll tell you what sounds good. The sooner I get off of this leg and some rest. All of this battle and Semblance using has left my body exhausted. Oh, and the fact that I have a Dust bullet in my leg."

Hansel looked down at Velvet with a grave look.

"Did you say that you were shot."

Velvet groaned winced as a fresh jolt of pain shot up her body, originating from her leg.

"Yeah."

With that, Hansel turned Velvet around and began to feel the back side of her thigh. Velvet suddenly became red and turned around as fast as could manage to slap Hansel. Despite being in severe pain as a result, it did not take Velvet's mind away from what she saw as a perverted attempt to invade her personal space.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Velvet angrily inquired.

Hansel shushed her, and continued feeling.

"Stop that!" Velvet shouted, hitting Hansel over the head and limping away in the process.

"I'm trying to see there's an exit wound. If the Dust bullet is still in you, then that is very bad news. Can I check, please? I promise to be quick about it."

Still red from embarrassment and anger, she turned around. She shuddered as she felt Hansel's hand quickly rub up and down her leg. When he took his hand away, he placed Velvet under his support once more.

Hansel swore and began to rush even faster to the vehicle, not taking Velvet's condition into consideration as he bumped her up and down. The pain was excruciating, and Velvet did not bother to hide it.

"I'm sorry, Velvet. We need to get you to that transport. They have a medical kit onboard, and we can use that. We need get that bullet out of you before it's too late."

Velvet, quite familiar with how Dust bullets worked thanks to many detailed conversations with Coco, was already quite aware of how dire the situation had become.

"There was no exit wound?"

"No, and if we don't get it out within the next few hours, the Dust in the bullet will-"

"Dissolve in my bloodstream and I'll die of Dust poisoning. I know. My friend is an expert in Firearms. She taught me about these things." Velvet interrupted.

"Exactly." Hansel said as he pulled Velvet into the metallic interior of the transport. He strapped Velvet into the co-pilot's and returned to the bay area to do what Velvet assumed was look for the fabled Med Kit. He returned with one. It was a small, white, square plastic box with a large red cross over the front.

"It's got everything we need. We'll tend to it, as soon as get the hell out of here. This place is gonna be crawling with Atlas soldiers before too long. Once we land again in a few minutes, I'm gonna need to cut your leg open, since your Aura has already closed the wound. Sound good?"

"No. But we need to do it, so I'm going to just pretend like it is. Let's get this thing up and out of here. Can you fly it?"

Hansel nodded and cracked his knuckles as he strapped himself into the pilot's chair, pushing the necessary buttons and flipping the necessary switches to power on the transport. The various dials, meters, and switches lit up as Hansel began to flip additional switches and push what Velvet thought was the throttle, sending the vehicle straight above. He then pushed and flipped other things that were foreign to Velvet. Whatever Hansel pressed, it sent them forward slightly over the treeline.

The radio crackled to life after a few minutes of flying, with a voice that both startled and frightened Velvet.

 _"Ursa 816, this is Control. We've detected an unreported departure. Did you apprehend targets? Over."_

Hansel turned white and looked over to Velvet for some sort of assistance. She knew that she couldn't speak on the radio for Hansel, considering that she had never seen a female Atlesian soldier (not that she'd be able to tell under the layers of armor).

"You need to talk to them. They'll know that we're not soldiers if they hear a woman's voice. Just say the original pilot was killed during the mission, and that you took over."

Hansel took a large gulp, then picked up one of the headsets for the radio and cupped them around his ear. He pulled microphone to his mouth. Velvet located the second headset and followed suit.

"Sorry about that, Control. One of the captives was trying to get loose. We can confirm. Targets are onboard. Targets are onboard."

"Voice cannot be ID'ed. Pilot, identify yourself."

Hansel froze once more, looking to Velvet again.

 _Just say a name._ Velvet mouthed to Hansel.

Hansel nodded and took a deep breath.

"This is Corporal Topaz of the fifth battalion. Service number 07181199. The previous pilot is KIA. I'm taking over."

The radio only emitted static for the next two minutes, making Velvet very uneasy. She pondered if they would be able pull this off. However, in the back of her mind, Velvet knew just how impossible this sounded. When the Control tower came back on, her fears were realized.

 _"We have no record of any soldiers by that service number, rank, or affiliations currently serving. Put your CO on son. That's an order."_

Hansel took a deep breath and remained silent. He looked straight ahead, flexing his hands on the controls. Several minutes of radio silence filled Velvet's headset until the Air Controller came back on.

 _"I'm not going to say it again. Put your CO on, or we'll be forced to intercept. This is your last warning."_

The two remained silent, while Velvet looked over at Hansel.

"Hansel," She began. "Who's name did you give them?"

"It was my uncle's. He was a pilot in the Atlesian Military about 10 years ago. He was the one who taught me how to fly this thing." He said, punctuated with a sigh.

Velvet looked away, not sure whether to praise Hansel's quick thinking or chide his stupidity. She did not have the chance to decide as the Controller crackled through once more.

 _"All available units, we have a rogue gunship in Vale airspace. I'll send coordinates to any ships in the area. Please move to intercept. Over."_

Hansel and Velvet simultaneously swore as they heard this.

"Ok. Change of plans. We're bringing this bird down-now." Hansel said with an air of authority, taking the headset off of his head. He turned to Velvet.

"If they think we crashed, it may buy us some time to get away."

"What do you propose?"

"Well, will you be able to lift me if you fly out of here?"

Velvet considered the limits of her own upper-body strength, then nodded.

"Ok, good. It's because I need you to fly me directly over a tree so I can propel myself out of here. Can you fly for long distances? Are you up for it?"

Velvet nodded. She knew that she wasn't, but her lesson concerning being a burden came into mind when she considered relaying this information, and remained silent. Hansel nodded back to her, and turned back to the controls. He pulled up on the controls, nearly stalling the machine as they forced it's ascent. Hansel kept pulling until they could see Remnant's curvature.

"Velvet, get to the bay, and hold onto something. This is about to get...turbulent. Be ready to jump out with me when I get there. We need to do this flawlessly and quickly."

"Of course. Consider me there." Velvet removed her headset whose earphones had since become filled with pilots frantically trying to intercept Hansel and herself.

Velvet rushed to the back and held onto the nearest bar. She called out Hansel's name, prompting him to turn back. Rather than try to shout over the transport's strained engine. She threw up one of her thumbs and nodded. Hansel nodded back and took a large deep breath that Velvet could see. He then proceeded to push the transport into a nosedive.

Velvet wrapped her feet around the bars underneath the chair in front of her so she wouldn't be sucked out the open bay doors. Her eyes closed for a split second. When they opened once more, Hansel was rushing towards her. Without a word, she wrapped around him and summoned Icarina's wings.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!" They simultaneously shouted as they leaned out the bay door and were overtaken by the wind.

Velvet carefully eyed the plane as it continued to plummet until it connected with the treeline and tore through said trees before bursting into a large fireball. She steered clear of the smoke and wreckage, looking for an apprpriate place to drop Hansel. She finally found one and notified Hansel of it. He nodded when he was ready to drop, of which Velvet did without hesitation. He equipped his Wind-and-Fire Wheels midair and began to propel himself from tree to tree. Velvet flew alongside him, into the sunset.

 _Into our destinies._ She thought with both fear and jubilation.


	6. Chapter 6

Velvet and Hansel soared through the air, away from the burning wreckage of the Atlesian transport that they had just rammed into the trees. She couldn't help but wonder why she felt a pang of guilt within her. It wouldn't go away, no matter what she attempted to fill her mind with. After several more seconds such as this, it hit her.

"Hansel! We have to go back! We can't let the fire spread!" Velvet shouted at Hansel.

Hansel sighed loudly, to Velvet's dismay. She scowled at him for this and continued this until Hansel looked at her, and caught the full brunt of her gaze.

"Fine, Fine, Fine. I can go back and put it all out. It's more risky and it'll use a crapton of Dust, but we can."

"We can't risk the fire spreading and hurting innocents. We don't need their blood on our hands."

"We attacked Atlesians, stole their ship, and you crippled a member of Mistral royalty. How could you _possibly_ worry about a bit of collateral damage right now?"

"Because they don't deserve to die because of us. My leg and our escape can wait. The lives of the people we may have put in danger are more important at the moment. If you won't go back, _I_ will."

"Ok. Let's go back and handle it quickly. I don't wanna hang around any more than we have to."

Velvet was slightly put off by Hansel's apathy towards any people who they may have put in danger.

 _You can't blame him, Velvet. He's in as much danger as you. He's just looking out for the both of you._

With this, any apprehension felt towards Hansel disappeared. The two had already turned and begun to fly in the direction that they had just came. The stress of the new objective on Hansel was evidenced by the furrowing of his brow. He had ceased to perform any stylistic, visually spectacular maneuvers to propel himself from tree to tree. He simply clawed into the trunks and pushed forward, with the occasional somersault and strafe for stability and to adjust his trajectory.

Velvet looked down at him occasionally as he kept his eyes straight forward. It appeared to her that he was focused only on getting to their destinations safely. Velvet kept herself vigilant to ensure that they would not be ambushed by any Atlas soldiers anticipating their return. If there was anything worse than capture, it was her being the cause of said capture.

The sky had begun to take on its familiar purple hue. A small mass of rain clouds had begun their advance upon the land in a subtle manner, nearly unnoticeable to the naked eye, miles away. Directly over Velvet was several other, whiter puffs that had merged themselves with the backdrop of the evening sky. Remnant's shattered moon occupied a large portion of the sky, it's discrete chunks in their normal positioning, slowly trailing away from it's host into either oblivion or Remnant's atmosphere. No matter how many nights she had spent looking up at it, Remnant's moon had never failed to fascinate (and, in times of existential crisis, frighten) Velvet and fuel her imagination.

It often pained her to think of how no one had yet managed to enter the area outside of Remnant's atmosphere to study it further. She often would imagine all of the potential alien races and new forms of Dust present on the moon's surface to pass the time.

Velvet liked to imagine whimsical things such as this to take her mind off of stressful situations. It gave her a means of escape, a reason to leave reality for a spell. For a small moment, in fact, Velvet had forgotten why she was flying in the first place.

 _"Velvet._ Remnant to Velvet!" Hansel shouted, effectively snapping her out of her trance.

"What is it?" Velvet replied, with more of a exasperated tone than she had intended to employ.

"Ok, calm down for a second. I just wanted to say we're almost to the crash site."

"Of course. I'm sorry. I was just imagining things." She said with an air of remorse.

"Things like what?"

All Velvet could manage was a look back up at the moon and utter a three-word phrase that she used to remember her parents saying when they would reminisce about their days at Beacon.

"Days gone by."

Velvet did not bother to look over at Hansel. The phrase began to cause her to bring additional memories into the light of her mind. Said memories were mostly comprised of experiences that her father and herself had experienced together. She felt her eyes beginning to well, paired with the imminent tears welling her vision. Velvet wiped her eyes with the side of her hands closed into fists. Despite her attempt to do this in a subtle manner that did not attract attention, Hansel calling her name was the first indicator that her attempt had failed.

"I'm fine." She called out.

"The tears in your eyes telling a different story. Do you wish to talk about it?" Hansel asked, apparently forgetting the need to remain vigilant.

"No. We can't afford any distractions like that. We have to focus on reaching that fire and putting it out, by any means necessary." Velvet said in a quickened voice, similar to one of a child who had fallen off of his/her bike and was doing their damnedest to not cry in front of their friends.

Velvet was silently ashamed of this childish behavior, but made it impossible to tell from the perspective of an outside observer. She wiped her eyes once more, in a calmer, more open manner than before. When her eyes cleared, along with her emotions, Velvet caught sight of the large billowing trail of smoke that was previously invisible to her.

"Hansel."

"I see it. I've seen it for a while now. I was trying to call you about a little while ago when you snapped at me."

"Right. Sorry about that, again."

"It's fine. We'll talk about all of that later on. For now, let's put out this fire."

As Velvet had feared previously, the fire had begun to spread, using the trees in the immediate vicinity as fuel to quench it's insatiable hunger. The pair continued flying until they were directly above the raging flames. Hansel, once again, equipped his Wind Wheel and flung a Dust-powered gust at their new, elemental opponent.

This only served to spread the wall of flames further outward. This, in turn, made Hansel cry out a string of swears. In a panic, he attempted to throw several more wind gusts as it. This worsened the situation tenfold, causing Velvet to become silently annoyed at Hansel.

" _Stop it._ You're only making the situation worse. Hold on. Let me try something." Velvet said as the two landed in the area between the trees below.

She let her wings disappear and summoned Tierra's earth-controlling gloves once more. Velvet lifted a titanic mound of dirt from directly ahead of her, uprooting several trees in the process. She strained to lift the mound that left a large crater in front of her, a mere sibling to the ones that the wreckage of the Atlesian troop transport had created already.

Curling her hands, placing one above the other, Velvet realized that she could rotate the mound at will, just by spinning her hands around each other. She did this several times in succession, creating the momentum necessary to set her plan into motion. When she felt that the time was right, Velvet hurled the mound at the flames.

Initially skeptical as to whether or not the mound would survive the impact of slamming into the trees between it and it's destination, Velvet was delighted to watch as it swallowed the vegetation with ease. It didn't appear to be slowed down in the slightest. Instead, it had the desired effect of reaching the targeted flames. Velvet felt a smile cross her lips as she watched most of the flames suffocate under the large, brown mass of terra firma mixed with large spikes of foliage.

"Its working." Velvet said, knowingly stating the obvious.

"Not entirely. The large flames are gone, but there're still a few stragglers that don't look promising." Hansel observed.

Velvet was about to reply when she was cut off by the all-too familiar drone of incoming Atlas ships. She listened intently to determine the number of ships, the location of them, and their distance from Hansel and herself. After a few moments of intent listening, and ignoring questions from Hansel as to why her ears were flicking, Velvet found the answers to suffice her inquiries.

There were approximately 3 Atlas gunships inbound, about 4 miles away. Unless her ears had forsaken her, the ships were approaching from the north of their position.

Velvet turned to Hansel, and informed him of what she had learned. Without a word of reply, he turned in the opposite direction of the direction of the incoming ships and began to run. Hansel pulled his arm back and sent it forward, signaling to Velvet that he wished for her to run. Velvet had already begun to perform such action.

The two began to sprint. Velvet's extended use of her Semblance had exhausted her, and she was unable(and unwilling) to employ it once again.

"Why aren't you clawing into the trees?" Velvet asked.

"That would require me to sail in the air. It would make me an easy target to any ships. I'd get shot out of the sky. Plus we need to stay under the trees to maintain low visibility. The only way that we can be seen from here is ground-level troops and heat-detecting cameras. We should be fine if keep here." Hansel shakily explained.

"You know, it just occured to me. Why is the military chasing us, and not, I don't know, the actual _Vale Police Force?_ " Velvet had found it easier than Hansel to simultaneously speak and sprint.

"This is an international incident, Velvet. They likely are keeping the Vale Police within the cities, should we be stupid or desperate enough to go there."

"Fair point. But you'd think they'd at least have them out here with hounds or something."

"No need. Atlas has Hi-tech crap. More efficient than dogs." He gasped.

"Maybe you shouldn't talk," Velvet suggested. "You sound like you're about to keel over with every sentence you speak."

Hansel agreed and kept his mouth shut while they continued running in silence. Velvet was slightly disappointed with herself in not previously finding out just where Hansel intended to lead the two of them. She felt uneasy with simply having to stay silent and trust what she knew may simply have been his attempt to wing it. That probability was one Velvet could not afford to risk.

"Hansel: one last thing. Where are you leading us?"

"There's a place near here that has a barn. If we're lucky, it'll be free of animals and the house will be vacant. We can hide out there, and I can get that Dust bullet out of your leg."

"And if there are people?"

"We improvise." Hansel said with a smirk.

Velvet felt momentarily uneasy by the manner in which Hansel said "improvise", but it passed, and she focused on running once more.

Their arrival to the farmhouse came sooner than Velvet had anticipated. She could not see it through the dense trees, and it came out of what seemed to be nowhere. Her eyes struggled for a small period to fully take in the massive property. It was one of the largest houses of its kind that Velvet had ever seen up to that point.

The house was a large, gray cobblestone structure that possessed two floors stacked on top of each other, with a circular shutter above the two that indicated to Velvet that the house possessed a cellar. Each of the stories had, from what Velvet could tell, had four windows at the rear of the house. All of the visible windows were fitted with maroon silk sheets that were fringed with frills of the same color. Velvet took the time to ensure that there was no one near the windows looking out before Hansel and herself stepped out of the trees. Satisfied that no one was present, Hansel and Velvet stepped out of the treeline and rushed over into the barn.

The barn was, like the house that accompanied it, two stories tall. The exterior was adorned with a deep red color, it's weathered paint beginning to succumb to the elements. Velvet ran her hand along the barn as they ran by, unintentionally peeling off chips of paint that stuck to her hand. She shook her hand furiously as they entered the barn and latched the large door shut from the inside.

Velvet turned to fully take in the large, spacious interior of the structure they had locked themselves in. In the far corner of the wall rested a ladder that led up to the second level of the barn, which appeared to be home to large bags of animal feed and small, rusty pieces of farming equipment. On the lower floor, along with Velvet and Hansel, were empty stables with names engraved in wood resting on chains above each stable. There were four stables on each side of the barn, with the exception of a large empty space reserved for the area around the ladder, where a small array of more modern tools and farming equipment rested, paired with a wide wooden workbench that had found a place behind the base of the ladder. All of the stables were empty, yet there was brown wood-chips strewn all over the floor of both the stables and the wide area in the center of the barn between the two rows of stables as bedding.

"We can use that stable in the corner." Hansel thought aloud.

Velvet was about to ask what for, but she was reminded by the painful sensation of the bullet in her leg.

"Right. I suppose we should do that right away." She suggested.

Hansel nodded, and the two proceeded to advance across the barn to the location of the bench. Positioning themselves on either side of the supported piece of wood, Velvet and Hansel lifted the workbench at the same time and began the relatively short journey into the stable that was adjacent to the space that the bench originally of them tightly gripped the thin plywood, suspicious of the possibility that the bench wasn't too old to fall apart the moment it had taken the slightest pressure. The bench was a long piece of plywood that was nailed into two wooden legs that appeared as inverted capital 'A's. It looked as if it had not been used in ages, slowly becoming overcome with a layer of dust as a result of it's apparent neglect.

There were small nicks in the plywood, evidence of moments in which one had cut too far into a project of theirs and accidentally began to cut into their platform. Velvet felt a small period of kinship with herself and the condition of the wood. Both of them had been pushed too far in the past by others and had scars that seemed only to exist to remind them of the pain that the Gods of Creation and Destruction had allowed them to endure. She pushed these thoughts out of her mind, however, suddenly aware of how silly and depressing it was to compare herself to an inanimate workbench.

Hansel and Velvet softly placed the bench down onto the bedding. Hansel squatted down onto the level of the bench's legs to make sure that it was level, moving away clumps of wood chips to achieve such equilibrium. When Hansel was satisfied, he stood back up and faced Velvet, who had been watching him during this process.

"Are you ready for this?" He asked.

"Doesn't matter. If we wait any longer, I could die. You have to do this now. Is there any anesthesia in that kit?" Velvet, despite leaving herself vulnerable by being put under, would rather put herself at that risk rather than stay awake thorough the entire operation and risk going into shock. She saw the former as the lesser of two evils. She saw no safer alternative than putting her life into the hands of Hansel. "Do you know how to perform this type of operation? Or any form of operation?"

"Of course I do. And yeah there is. It was the first thing I looked for." Hansel began, with the slightest hint of offense, as if he interpreted Velvet's question to be one of a condescending nature towards his abilities as a surgeon. "My father taught me how to extract a Dust bullet from someone in the wild, under worse conditions than the ones we have right now. He also taught me other procedures, but those aren't important. Believe me, I can do this in my sleep."

"Ok, but please don't. I don't trust you _that_ much." Velvet requested, trying her best to joke. She felt a small sense of satisfaction hearing Hansel laugh.

"No promises. It's been a bit of a long day." He joked back, making it Velvet's turn to laugh. The two then looked into each other's eyes for a long period of time, keeping their mouths in subtle smiles to convey the joy that they(or at least, in Velvet's case) felt within themselves as a result of the other's presence and personality. Velvet realized that there was a small twinkle in Hansel's eyes that had not been there before. She questioned why she had not seen it before now. Her mind pondered what else there was about Hansel that she had not seen before. Knowing that she needed to go under, Velvet elected to find out the minute she awoke.

After several deep breaths, Velvet positioned herself on the workbench, lying with her back down against the wood. She looked up at Hansel once again and chuckled for no reason. Hansel chuckled back, likely out of politeness, and balanced the white plastic box on the thick wall of the stable they had set themselves in. He opened it and extracted a small, green metallic cylinder that came complete with a spigot on the top, attached to a long, thin plastic tube. This, in turn, was connected to a clear mask of a pyramid shape, comprised of the same material as it's tubular companion.

Hansel bent down to place the mask over Velvet's mouth and nose. His advance was stopped, however, by Velvet's sudden tight grip around his wrist as she shot her closest hand up. Hansel looked at her with a look of concern and inquired what the problem was.

"I swear, if you something other than what you have to, or you let me die here, I will make it my mission to ensure that you spend the rest of eternity paying for it. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Velvet. I wouldn't dare take advantage like that. Don't you trust me?"

Velvet thought long and hard before she could answer.

"Of course I do. I'm trusting you with my life."

"I'll die before I let anything happen to you, Velvet."

Hansel maneuvered his free hand over Velvet's as it still gripped his wrist.

"I promise I won't." He added in a soft voice that only Velvet's sensitive ears would be able to coherently and fully make out.

She allowed Hansel to place the mask on her face, now fully trusting of him. Velvet's vision blurred as the anesthesia began to kick in. All of the blurs melded into one, the only perambulatory portion being what she recognized as Hansel. Soon, all faded to black as her eyes closed. She was almost immediately transported back to her home in Valkryite, sitting in the living room next to the fireplace with her little brother asleep in her lap. Her mother sat across from them, being caressed and held close by-

"Father."

Velvet's father turned to look at his daughter. He closed his eyes and laughed, as she would always recall him doing when she was small.

"You seem surprised to see me, hon."

"Why shouldn't I be? You-You're-" Velvet couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Her father knew, and shushed her before she could manage to.

"We must'nt speak of such unpleasant things now. Why not savor our little reunion while we can?" Her father suggested.

Velvet took in every detail of her father's figure and recalled every memory in that one instant. His name had been Zandu Scarlatina. He had chestnut hair that was always tied back into a bun. He was wearing his favorite long-sleeved collared shirt, one of black cotton, paired with a set of white slacks. On his feet was a mixture of both in the form of hand-stitched leather shoes. Over his shirt was a red bow-tie that was always oddly aesthetically pleasing to young Velvet, just as she found it to be now. Velvet recalled how, while many would secretly scorn her father's style of dress, just as many from all over the region would herald him as "The snappiest dresser in all the Vale, if not all of Remnant". This also brought forth the memory of her pride when she would hear someone say this.

On the mantle over the fireplace rested Zandu's Gladius, next to his shield on a hook. Not only were they fierce weapons of combat, but also a conversation piece that Velvet's father loved to show off whenever he had company over. He loved to explain the smithing process that brought his prized duo to fruition. Zandu loved fawning the edges of the black-and-white striped sword's anatomy, and the beauty of it's sister, a large, round, white shield with a black ring around it's circumference and a large black dot in the center that rose over the sea of white surrounding it.

Velvet remembered the story vividly: Zandu had worked for two years at a local farm to earn enough Lien to be able to afford a brand-new set of Gladius and Shield. He often told anyone who would listen about how he had known just what he would to ask the smith to make, ever since he had first realized he had a Semblance. Everyone would eventually tire of Zandu's stories, but little Velvet would always be willing to sit on her father's lap and listen for hours on end. She idolized the man, made him her hero, even up to the day when-

"Why don't you sit here, next to me? It's been a while, so I'm sure there's quite a bit I'm not caught up on." Zandu patted the cushion of a red leather recliner adjacent to the loveseat that he and the now-dormant mother of Velvet sat upon. With the care that only a sister would be capable of, she gently laid the sleeping Jacob on the wicker chair that they had just occupied. Velvet walked over and took a seat next to her father, never taking his eyes off of him while the transition was happening.

"Where should I begin?" Velvet asked of her father in a shaky voice.

"Velvet, my dear. I think we both know the answer to that."

Velvet nodded and, keeping her eyes on her father's, relayed what had transpired in her life since Zandu had, as many in-denial loved ones had told Velvet as a child, "went away on a business trip". She made sure to not leave out any details, from her constant maltreatment as a Faunus and her heightened fighting capabilities. She told of her aspirations to become a Huntress (eliciting an "I'm not surprised. It would be a waste of talent if you didn't." from her father). After the span of what felt like hours, Velvet had come to the most recent point in her life.

She paused, and looked down at the ground. Her father patiently waited for her to speak once more, visibly twiddling his thumbs in his lap as he so often did when Velvet was a child. Finally, Velvet relayed the unprofaned tale of her crime. It made her feel like a coward and a lowly criminal to hear the account spoken out never took her eyes off of the ground as she told this particular chapter of her life. Zandu said not word as all of this occurred. The silence, save for the crackling of the wood in the fireplace, made it all the more difficult to tell. Hearing all of her own actions out of her mouth made Velvet question whether or not she would be making the morally sound choice of running away and not attempting to defend herself in the legal system.

Oh, who am I kidding? Velvet thought to herself with angst. With my luck, I'd get an anti-Faunus judge who'd put me to death or throw me in a cell for the rest of my life. It wouldn't be much different if I hadn't decided to run. I'd be branded a terrorist, just like they did now.

When Velvet finished, Zandu remained silent. Rather, he gently slid Velvet's mother's body off of himself and positioned her in a comfortable position on her back with her head against the armrest, a pillow as a cushion. Her legs hung off of the side, which Velvet's father corrected and lifted them onto the area of the loveseat where he had just rested himself.

"Oh, Magenta. You always were such a deep sleeper." Zandu turned to his daughter once more. "Velvet, did I ever tell you about my days at Beacon?"

Velvet looked up at her father once more, smiling at the joyous recollections that he had stirred up within her.

"Of course, Father." She replied almost immediatley. "You always did love telling those stories, almost as much as I adored listening." Velvet had often stayed up after her bedtime as a little girl listening to, as her father would say, "The Marvelous Misadventures of Team OZDN", the last word being pronounced as 'Obsidian'. This always served to aggravate Velvet's mother, but she didn't care. She loved spending as much time as possible as she could with her father. It was this that she was the most grateful for later on in life, when her father was no longer there to regale her of such tales.

"Well, my dear, there were things that I never told you about. Things that you were too young to understand. While we're here, I'd like to tell you about a particular story that falls into that category. I told you about who was who on the team, right?"

"Not exactly. You told me about your friends Oz and Dorian, but you never told me about who 'N' was. Whenever I would ask, you'd just get quiet and say "I'll tell you about them when you're older."

Zandu exhaled through his nose and ran his hand down his face. He looked away from his daughter and planted his sights on the roaring flames that were slowly consuming the ashen-surfaced blocks of wood. His face had lost its glow and took on the same grave expression that would be present when the 'N' character from his past would be brought up in any way.

"Well, you're old enough now, I suppose. Ok, now it's my turn to tell a slightly uncomfortable story." Zandu said with a deep breath to complement his diction.

"You don't have to if you aren't comfortable, Father."

Zandu laughed, and looked back at his daughter with the same warm smile that she recalled from her childhood.

"I appreciate your concern, Honey Bun, but I couldn't live with myself if I missed this opportunity to tell you. You deserve to know everything about me, and this is the one thing that desperatley needs saying above all else. I'm sure one day you'll either meet up with Oz or Dorian and they can fill you in on all the rest that I never had the chance to tell you. All I ask is that you don't let yourself judge me too harshly for what I did in those days. I was only a teenager, and I made some very bad mistakes. I'm about to tell you about one of those mistakes, probably the biggest one of my young life."

Velvet crossed her legs and patiently waited for her father to begin his tale. She watched as he took another deep breath, followed by a shallow exhale. Zandu looked at the fire once more, then back to his teenage daughter. He then began to pace around the living room, as if that would bring him the words he required to bring his verbal recollection of his memory into motion.

"When I was at Beacon, I was placed into team OZDN, with three other first-years. There was two Huntsman-in-the-making, Oz and I, on the team. Some politically-correct people, as few as there were then, threw a fit and cried 'Sexism' when our letters were put at the beginning of the team's name. We didn't care, though. None of us did. We simply saw it as either a weird coincidence, or a gauging of our levels. We all shrugged and left it at that, aside from Oz being made our team leader. Anyways, I'm rambling. The two Huntresses on the team: they were Dorian Graymond and..." Zandu paused before revealing the fourth and final name, his eyes becoming misty. Velvet leaned forward, hopeful that the name would strike a memory in her. She secretly pondered, as she had pondered for years, if this single letter would be the precedent to a longer name. Velvet wondered if this person would be someone who had a large impact on her life at some point in the past, leading to Zandu's repression of this person from both his own memory and Velvet's. "Neopolitan, or Neo, as we called her for short. She never did tell us her last name. She never told us anything, as a matter of fact."

Velvet took her father's subsequent silence as an opportunity to ask a question. "What do you mean, Father?"

"Well, Velvet, she never told us anything because she couldn't. She was mute, you see. Neo had come from...let's call it a rough home. Some very bad things happened there that made her that way. It wasn't her fault. Regardless, we took her in like she was family. We all learned sign language just so we would be able to effectivley communicate with her. We all became friends and family as we learned how to protect the innocent and fight the Grimm. Oz, Dorian, and I would protect Neo from anyone who would make fun of either of her conditions."

"Either, Father?"

"Along with her muteness, was another condition. As soon as Neo hit 15, she stopped aging. Years passed, and she still looked as if she was just a kid. While we all got taller and physically matured, Neo stayed the exact same as always. Some people liked to tease her for it, but the three of us made sure to put an end to it almost as quickly as it started. It's like I said, we were family, with Neo being the little sister that we all felt a need to protect.

"After a while, she started to become fed up with it. She felt as if she were being a burden on the rest of us, not being able to protect herself. After a while, we found out that she had started hanging around with some...less-than-desireable people. They started leading her down the wrong path, causing her studies to suffer as a result. She became more distant from the rest of us, not bothering to respond when we tried to sign to her. Looking back, I know we should've done more to help her. We should've seen just how bad it truly was, before..." Zandu's voice trailed, his face going a pasty white. Velvet knew better than to prod someone with such a sensitive memory, so she rested her hands on her legs and patiently waited.

"It all started when she tried to rob a store. Oz was the one to suggest that we all pitch in enough Lien to bail her out, since the store owner wasn't going to press charges. That's exactly what we did, went to the station and all. Whe n we got there, there wasn't a single one of her friends waiting for her. At first we thought, 'Maybe they got arrested, too', but they were nowhere to be found. In her time of need, they had abandoned her. When we bailed her out, we all could see the look of betrayal on her face. The minute that we got her possessions and left the Police Station, she took her things and walked off into the darkness. Not a single one of us tried to stop her. Oz didn't speak to anyone for a week. Dorian cried her eyes out for three days, then fell into a deep depression that never really left her. Me? I wasn't much better off than those two. I took up drinking for a while, as well. Nasty habit that took me a long time to kick."

"What ever happened to Neo?" Velvet asked.

"Last time I saw her, it was on a wanted poster with her mug shot next to a fellow with the name of 'Roman Torchwick'. It made me feel like I'd failed her. The reason that I told you all this,Velvet, is this. I don't know what to tell you to do about your problem. I understand that it's all just one bad thing topped against another, and the world is literally against you. All I can tell you is to make sure that you do what feels right in your heart, and not willingly go down the wrong path like Neo did. Promise me that much, Velvet. Because there's so much that you're still destined to do.

"Destined, Father? Destined how?"

"It will all make itself clear in time, my dear. Promise me you won't stray."

"I promise."

Velvet rose and hugged her father, who returned the action by wrapping his hands around his daughter.

"Follow your heart, and you will never be wrong, no matter how bad the consequences. Your heart is not wrong, only the situations around it. Never forget that."

"I wont, Father."

It was then that Zandu told Velvet the one thing that he wanted to tell her one last time.

"I love you, Velvet."

Tears beginning to stream down her face, Velvet repeated the three word phrase. As soon as she did, she felt herself snap back into consciousness, with a blurry sight that she had fallen under with. The only thing she saw moving was a blob she recognized as Hansel.

"It's fine," He said. "She's out cold. I couldn't move her before because of her healing leg. It's been a day and a half. She's good to go now."

"Hansel." She mumbled, her vision beginning to clear. She nearly missed him place what looked like a Scroll in his pocket. "Who were you talking to?" Velvet asked as she propped herself on her elbows.

"I was setting up arrangements for our next safehouse. Oh, Velvet. I've been waiting for you to wake up for so long." He knelt down and hugged Velvet. He pulled back just enough so that their faces were inches from each other. Velvet pushed her hair behind her ear and began to feel herself blush once more.

"Well, here I am. And you didn't answer my question."

Hansel lowered his head, seemingly formulating an appropriate response within his mind.

"Look, Velvet. If we're gonna be doing this for a while, we need to be planning ahead like this. I know a lot of people who would be willing to help—good people. You just have to trust me with this, ok? I know what I'm doing."

"Where's the phone from?" Velvet questioned, silently resolving to further interrogate about the identity of the other person on the phone the day after.

Hansel sighed. "You're not coherent enough to be speaking right now and, for the most part, neither am I. Now, why don't you get some more rest, as will I? I'll answer all the questions that you need answered, ok? I promise."

Velvet crossed her arms and huffed, knowing perfectly well that Hansel was right, despite her comatose state. She then held out her hand with the palm up.

"Hand me the phone. I'll hold onto it for now."

"Fair enough." Hansel said, complying with Velvet's demands.

"You know I can't stand secrets."

"I know that. That's why I'll sit up above to give you some alone time." He began walking away when Velvet clutched his wrist. She felt a wave of embarrassment at her mistrusting nature towards Hansel, and felt the need to rectify herself.

"No. Please stay. I don't want to be alone right now."

"I understand." Hansel laid down next to Velvet at a comfortable distance.

Velvet felt her vision fading once more as she drifted off to sleep once more.

"Goodnight, Velvet." He said.

Velvet responded in a like manner, then fully lost consciousness once more.


	7. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 7

Velvet awoke the next morning as the bright sun shone directly on her eyes from an above crack in the roof of a barn. She briefly shut the lids of her eyes once more as her eyes adjusted to being awake once more. Hansel's arm was draped over the area of the sleeping bag that covered her waist in the same position that he had rested it in when the two had fallen asleep the night before. She tilted her head back to get a good luck at his face and his current resting arrangement.

A layer of blonde scruff had found residence on the lower area of Hansel's face. He breathed softly, prompting a small breeze to raise the hairs of Velvet's neck along with a slow pulsating motion that could be seen in his midsection. His body covered the bicep of his free arm, leaving the forearm to extend onto the bedding that he slept on. As odd as Velvet found it, Hansel had remained fully dressed as he drifted off to sleep.

 _I guess he didn't want to leave any room for a misunderstanding to take place._

Velvet rolled herself in her sleeping bag to reach the zipper of her sleeping bag. The zipper creaked as it made Velvet's liberation of the bag known to anyone in the immediate vicinity. A combination of both this and her moving of Hansel's arm off of her caused the owner of the arm to awake as well and prop himself up onto his elbows. Velvet and Hansel looked at each other for a period before Hansel directed his vision in the general direction of Velvet's thigh.

"How's your leg feel?" He asked with what Velvet perceived as genuine concern.

"Well, I feel nothing. Since that's the case, I suppose that could mean one of two things: either the operation was a complete success and my Aura took care of the healing process overnight, or..." Velvet trailed for the sole purpose of building suspense.

"Or what?" Hansel said with an awkward chuckle.

"Or you messed up so badly that the wound in my leg became infected and it is now totally paralyzed and useless." She said half-jokingly.

Now that the thought had put itself in the forefront of her mind, Velvet frightened herself with the very real possibility that something terrible and irreparable by means of Aura had transpired while she had been knocked out.

"Don't even say that. Now you have me freaked out."

"I'm sorry, Hansel. It was just my bad attempt at humor to break the ice. If itt'l make you feel better, I'll try it out."

"Please do. I won't be able to truly be at ease until I can see that you can fully function on it."

"I understand. I'm truly touched that you care so much for my well-being." She said with a warm smile directed at her male companion. He returned the smile and allowed a small chuckle to be produced with closed lips.

Velvet slipped herself out of the dark-blue sleeping bag that had contained her through the night and stood with no pain to speak of. She turned her back to Hansel and placed her hand in her leggings over the area where she was shot. To her expectations, there was no tangible scar where it had been. A wave of relief rushed over her as she became certain that she would not have any inhibitions of her movement. However, she removed her hand and slowly walked to the center of the barn.

The other end of the barn placed itself in Velvet's sights. She primed herself in a sprinter's position and took a deep breath. She sprinted as fast as she could and leaped into the air above her. Velvet tucked her legs in and leaned backwards, sending herself into a backwards cannonball of sorts. Just as she began to descend to the bedding on the ground, she extended her legs once more and landed gracefully on her feet.

The test of her leg continued as she ran to the wall of the barn and jumped once more to firmly plant both of her feet on the section of the wall directly in front of her waist. Her body arched back as she performed another backflip off of the barn wall. The barn around her was a colorful blur as her body spun through the air. As it did before, she firmly landed on both of her feet. Velvet briefly debated whether or not it would be wise to see how her otherwise-healthy leg would handle under the pressure of usage of her Semblance. She decided against it, knowing that such actions had a higher risk of attracting unwanted attention from the outside.

She walked over to where she had rose from moments before, now assured that her leg would not fail her during their escape from the Atlesian Military and the 4 Kingdoms. Hansel had never taken his eyes off of her once during this entire period. Normally, Velvet would be repulsed by such eyeing from someone of the opposite sex, yet she felt flattered on this particular occasion. These new feelings perplexed her, and they exhilarated her all at once.

"Well, glad to see that you're not gonna be held back when we're on the run. Now that's out of the way, we're gonna need to go into that house and see if we can find some things that we need." Hansel said.

"I hope you're not talking about stealing again. I thought you had enough Lien to cover us." Velvet chided.

"No, no. Of course not. I was talking about using something, not stealing."

"What is this 'something' you speak of?"

"Either the black hair dye I spoke of earlier, or..." Hansel's voice trailed as he visibly shuddered and ran one of his hands through his hair. "Razor blades and shaving cream."

Velvet sucked through her teeth.

"Well, I suppose that's only reasonable, despite it's extreme nature. We can't run the risk of you getting noticed, and your beard isn't enough, I don't think."

"Exactly. That's also the reason as to why I have to go into villages alone."

"No." Velvet said stoicly.

Hansel scrunched his face in silent response to Velvet's refusal to follow through with their original plan.

"Why the sudden change of heart? I thought you understood why that's not a good idea."

"Well, the way that I see it, we need to stay together in case something happens. We can back each other up in case something goes wrong. Ten guards against two is a lot better than against one." She said, firmly placing her hands on her hips and feeling a sense of duty and obligation to her companion.

"I don't feel right about that. For one thing, you're much more high-risk than I am. Plus, even if we do manage to get in, you'll be recognized almost instantly because of...well, you know." Hansel looked up from Velvet's eyes and gestured to her ears. Velvet felt silently embarrassed at the realization that she had not previously thought of this second problem. She knew that there was only one solution, and the idea of having to do it again made her sick.

Velvet sighed and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Hansel asked her what was wrong. She pursed her lips and nervously chuckled.

"I know what I need to do."

Hansel easily picked the lock to the back door of the home and opened the door. Velvet followed, keeping her uneasiness about breaking into a potentially occupied household and that violent altercation that could ensue silent. As if she didn't already know, Hansel placed his index finger to his closed lips and looked at Velvet. Silently annoyed, Velvet merely nodded and followed closely in tow. Upon entry, she saw that there was a small table to their immediate left. On it rested several assorted photographs of the family that Velvet assumed lived in the home. The mother( at least, the woman that Velvet perceived to be as the mother) had sun-kissed skin with teal-colored eyes. Her hair shared the same color, with thin black streaks in her bangs.

The man whose arm rested on the woman's neck and shoulders shared the same warm smile that his (once again, Velvet assumed that this was the father of the household) wife had. He had cerulean curls and black sunglasses that refused to let Velvet see what color his eyes were. He was a thin man who had not worn a shirt in the photograph, exposing his dark-brown chest and midsection. After seeing the black bikini that the mother was in along with what was clearly the beach and the oceans in the background, Velvet surmised that the family had taken the photo during an excursion to such a place.

The young boy, whose face was eerily similar that of her own younger brother, was shirtless like his father. He had the skin tone of his mother and the mixed colors of both of his parents' hair. His eyes gleamed a bright blue, a similar shade to the one that covered his hair. The boy's wide, open smile revealed that one of his front teeth was missing.

This small detail caused an involuntary smile to cross Velvet's lips as she recalled a fond memory in which her own brother had revelled in losing his first tooth after falling from a tree onto his face. He had been playing while the rest of the family was tending to housework or sleeping. Velvet had looked out the window just as she saw Jacob lose his grip on a branch and fall to the ground on his face. When she ran outside, she expected to be required to console a crying Jacob. To her surprise, however, this was not the case.

He was already standing up when Velvet came upon him, astonishingly laughing. When his sister asked if he was alright, he looked up at her and smiled from ear to ear.

"Velvet! Look!" He lifted up his closed hand and opened it with the palm up to reveal a small white tooth. Velvet held a mouth to her hand to simultaneously stifle a laugh and cover the gasp that passed her lips shortly before the laugh.

"You lost a tooth?" She asked rhetorically.

Jacob nodded and began to ask what he should do with it.

"Well, if I recall correctly, there's a certain little fairy who would be particularly interested in that little tooth."

"Where should I leave it for her, Velvet?" Her little brother eagerly asked.

"Under your pillow. That way, she can leave Lien for you when you fall asleep tonight." She directed with a smile. Jacob then furrowed his brow and pushed out his bottom lip.

"What's wrong, Jacob?" Velvet asked.

"If I'm asleep, how can I thank her for the Lien?"

Velvet bent down and placed her hands on her knees so that she was at eye level with her younger sibling.

"Is that all you're upset about?"

Jacob looked down at the ground and nodded. Velvet took one hand off of her knee and placed on her brother's shoulder. He looked up at her once more with eyes that were beginning to well up with tears. Velvet smiled once more in an attempt to calm down Jacob.

"I know. It's pretty silly."

"No, it's not. In fact, I'll do you a favor."

"Really? What's that?"

"I'll stay up and wait for the fairy to come. When she does, I'll tell all about how you're grateful for the Lien and all about how you're..mostly a good boy." She promised with a smirk.

"Mostly a good boy?" Jacob said fearfully, his tiny voice cracking.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Velvet furrowed her little brother's chestnut hair and uprighted herself, keeping her hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?" Velvet asked.

Jacob rubbed his cheek, the smile momentarily retreating from his face. His expression showed the pain that Jacob felt when he touched the exterior of the section of his gums that was now down a tooth.

"It does a little bit."

This was the first time that Velvet realized that there was a small trail of blood that began to drip out the corner of Jacob's mouth.

"Ok. Let's go inside and get you cleaned up, ok?"

Jacob nodded and removed his hand from his cheek. He used his index and middle finger to wipe a portion of blood away from his face. The fingers were moved in front of his eyes for inspection. Once he was satisfied to see the red substance, Jacob lifted his fingers up for Velvet to see.

"Look, Velvet. I'm bleeding!" He said giddily.

Velvet chuckled and rustled his hair once more.

"Just like a real Huntsman, huh?"

This got Jacob to laugh and, to Velvet's relief, wipe his fingers on his pants and cease to talk about the blood any longer.

Velvet shook her head and was transported back to reality, where Hansel tapped her shoulder. She looked up at him just in time to see him motion them forward. Annoyed once more, she obeyed and silently crept forward, cautious of any openings that may give them away to any other occupants of the house. Velvet and Hansel clung to the walls to prevent detection, Velvet's ears flicking as she listened for any footsteps or other sounds that would give the impression that they were not alone.

Despite her efforts, there was no noticeable noises other than the near-silent ones that Hansel and herself made. Soon, they came across a large staircase that led to the floor above them. Hansel looked up, then back at Velvet. He threw up a thumb and mouthed, asking if Velvet was prepared to go to the second floor. She nodded and they proceeded upwards.

The creaking boards that made up the stairs made Velvet uneasy, momentarily forgetting that she was the only one that she knew of in the house who could have heard such a miniscule noise. The stairs looked to be made of cedar, with a long, red rug with golden fringes covering the centers of the steps. At each end of the railing of the stares were large wooden cubes. The railing was adorned with beautiful carvings that Velvet could not truly appreciate in her current state. Her nerves were especially placed on end when they reached the top of the stairs. She heard the worst noise that she could imagine in their current situation: the soft breath of a human being.

Velvet tightly clutched Hansel's shoulder to prevent him from stepping onto the upper level. He looked back at her, his annoyance visible on his face. It was obvious that he was attempting in vain to hide such emotions.

"What is it?" He asked quietly.

"I hear breathing: I think it's a human. There was no sign of a pet downstairs."

"Do you know where at?"

Velvet shook her head. Her hearing was acute, true, but she had trouble at times pinpointing the exact location of noises coming from a source that she was unable to see. It was a small factor that few people knew about: herself, Coco, and her family. Velvet saw it as a shortcoming, and had preferred that there was as few people who were knowledgeable about it as possible.

Hansel grunted, then hugged the wall once more, prompting Velvet to do the same. He risked a peek around the wall, then looked down the hallway to his right. Satisfied that he had not been spotted, he looked back at Velvet.

"What do you think we should do?" He whispered. "Turn back, not be able to go into town, and we'll probably have to hunt food and raiding houses since we'll be too recognizable in the towns? Or we raid this one house, run the risk of getting caught, get what we need, and get out so we have what we need to do this as legal as possible? Your call."

Velvet looked up at the white ceiling above them and held her chin in her hand while she pondered in thought.

 _Ok, Velvet. Two options here. Both of them are equally risky, only the former is more risky than the other in the sense of long-term. So do we run this one wrong so everything else may run right? Or do we just keep going wrong and hope it fixes itself eventually? Do you really want to leave such a thing to chance? No, no. Of course you don't. So both choices are equally bad, but what is the lesser of two evils? Obviously the course of action that only requires you and Hansel to raid a single house instead of a dozen. I guess that gives your answer, then. Doesn't it?_

"Ok, here's what we do. We only use what we need. Nothing, and I mean nothing, leaves this house. You either find dye, or shaving cream, use it as fast as you can while I keep watch. When you're finished, we leave. That's all that needs to be done. Sound good to you?" Velvet asked of Hansel.

Hansel looked away from her for a moment, then returned his gaze. He nodded and took a deep breath.

"We go on three." He whispered.

Velvet nodded back at him. "One..."

"Two..."

Velvet threw up three fingers in the stead of calling out verbally. This briefly drew the attention of Hansel's eyes, causing him to nod once more and turn his back to Velvet. The two crept up the final steps to the second level of the home. Once again, Hansel turned to Velvet.

"Where's the breathing coming from? The general direction, I mean?" He inquired.

Velvet closed her eyes and concentrated on the noise that had steadily filled her ears for the past few minutes. She tried ever so hard to pinpoint, if not the exact location of the breathing, then the general direction that it had come from. The auditory respirations seemed to mock her after a time, as a child who could not be found during a game of Hide-and-Go-Seek may after the game's end. It seemed to beckon to her, yet do its damnedest too repel her all at once.

 _"Come to me, Velvet. No, wait, I changed my mind. Let's stay apart, huh?"_ It seemed to cry.

This only made Velvet want to find it more. She furrowed her brow and placed her hands on her temples. ("In retrospect, I suppose I could've just moved around," Velvet said to Rojo,"But I was a bit young and, well, a little stupid." Rojo only replied with a nod, which Velvet took as a signal that he wished for her to continue the story.) After a few seconds more like this, she found it. It suddenly became more defined and clear that before. Velvet opened her eyes and looked in the exact direction of the room that held the person. It was not known to her as to why the person's breathing level had changed, but Velvet was aware that she did not have time to ponder such trivial thoughts. Hansel never took his eyes off of Velvet, doing what she thought was trying to look for any type of expression that would telegraph to him that she had found her target. When she looked directly at the room, he knew exactly what it meant.

"That the one?" He asked in his soft tone.

"Yeah. Make sure to steer clear of that one. Their breathing's changed, so that may be an indicator that we should hurry and find what you need."

"Noted. Let's find out which one of these is the bathroom so we can do what we need to and get out of here. If we do go down, I don't want it to be at the hands of some kid."

"How do you know it's a kid?" Velvet interrogated.

Hansel did not immediately answer, but continued to look at Velvet. She could see in his eyes that he fumbled for an answer in his mind.

"Call it intuition." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"Hmm. We'll get back to that later." She said indignantly, not bothering to conceal the fact that she did not believe him.

Hansel said nothing, but began to open random doors on the side of the floor opposite of the location of the person that Hansel referred to as 'kid'. There were a total of 6, including one that led to a linen closet. Frustration filled Velvet as each door led to either a bedroom, a powder room(that, to her dismay, offered none of what they required.), or some sort of closet. She could see that Hansel had begun to become desperate, and indiscreetly began opening doors on the side that had been a bit of taboo prior to this stage.

"Be quiet!" Velvet loudly whispered. "You'll wake up whoever's in the house, then we'll have a bit more to be upset about then than now!"

Hansel stopped and held out his hands with the palms out. He closed his eyes and remained this way for several seconds. Velvet watched with wonder as she slowly deduced that this was his own anger-managment tactic. She found it amazing that he had managed to find such a level of inner-peace that he was able to calm himself without some external force coming into play. It was truly a marvel that she had never seen before (aside from those people that she had met who had never had an outspoken temper problem and had been able to calm themselves without a single twitch of the muscles).

"I'm sorry about that. I don't always lose my temper like that, but believe me, it usually gets a lot worse when we're not in more..sensitive situations than the one we're in at the moment."

"I understand. Just see that it doesn't get out of hand when I need you, ok? I can't do this alone."

Hansel placed his hand on Velvet's shoulder, and whispered Velvet's name. She looked up into his eyes and the two stayed there for what felt like an eternity to Velvet.

"I'll never leave you to this alone. I don't know what I would do without you."

"What does that mean?" Velvet coyly smiled, having a strong feeling that the answer to her own question could already be found within herself.

Hansel returned the smile, softly brushing back her hair behind her ear. "Why don't we come back to that later?"

Velvet blushed and agreed. Velvet's chest was filled with a warmness that was previously foreign to her. It was one that she did not know how (or want to) process under their current conditions. So, instead, she put them inside herself, and opened the door closest to her. To her astonishment, the first door that she opened was a bathroom. A gasp of exhilaration filled the air around her. When Hansel walked over to see what Velvet had found, he made a similar noise.

"Oh, thank you, God." He said in a jubilant tone of voice.

He wasted little time in looking for the things that he desired in the cabinets above and below the sink. Velvet turned her back to him, keeping her eyes and ears focused on the door that housed the only other occupant of the house. His breathing had slowed down once more, to Velvet's relief. She leaned herself against the wall and propped one leg up against it.

Behind her, Hansel had begun to run the water in the bathroom. This gave her reason to turn her head and see what it was that he was doing. Velvet saw Hansel as he leaned himself over the sink to get himself closer to the mirror.

He had doused his hair in water and, judging by the locks of hair and scissors that rested by the sink, cut a large portion of his hair off. The only thing that had remained was a mere shell of the hair that many women had spent days,weeks, and, for some, months, adoring over. He was now running over the remains of his once-flowing hair with cream and a single razor blade.

The entire process took about seven minutes for him to complete. When all of the excess cream was wiped away, he took another look at himself in the mirror. Hansel ran his hand over his smooth head, and let an apathetic grunt loose in his closed mouth.

"How does it look?" He asked without taking his eyes off of the mirror.

Velvet leaned in the doorway, crossing her arms. She looked at her bald companion, gauging whether the hair would be enough to avoid detection from the prying eyes of suspicious villagers.

"So far so good, but you should probably keep some of your face concealed somehow. The villagers around here aren't stupid. Well, most of them aren't."

Hansel looked over at her. He straightened himself from his original position and placed his hands in his pockets. At Velvet's request, Hansel found a bag and placed all of his expended hair inside the bag to eliminate any trace that they were at all. Velvet knew that, should they leave such evidence as hair spread across the family's sink, it would most likely stir the residents into a panic and give them ample cause to phone the police. This, in turn, would give their pursuers an idea of their whereabouts. This was a risk that Velvet would not dare risk.

She watched Hansel perform this task until it was complete. He turned to her once more and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Velvet asked, walking over to Hansel.

"I just realized something." He announced, stifling another laugh.

"Oh, really? And just what is that?" She asked.

"The fact that I kind of look like one of those cheesy convicts that you'd see in a movie." He joked.

Velvet looked his head over once more, agreeing with him thereafter.

"Alright," She began to direct."We need to get out of here before someone sees us. We're already pushing it as is."

Hansel lifted his right hand up to the corner of his eyebrow. He stiffened his back and looked at the top of Velvet's scalp.

"Yes, ma'am. I say we move on out."

Velvet laughed and turned to walk out the doorway. She heard Hansel begin to follow after as she stepped onto the stairs. During the events past, she had made the mistake of taking her attention off of the breathing habits of their unwilling host. As she walked down, her ears picked up an elevated breathing level from the occupant of the room. She stopped in front of Hansel halfway down the stairs, eliciting an inquiry of Velvet's status from him. Velvet didn't immediately answer, but continued listening.

"Oh, shit. Oh, shit. There's someone in the house. It's not Mom and Dad. They just barely landed in Atlas. What do I do? What do I do? Do I try to get out? Try to confront them? Oh, screw it. I'll call the police." Velvet heard the voice say. She surmised that it was, indeed, a young boy, as Hansel had predicted earlier. His accuracy peaked Velvet's interests once more, but there was no time for her to dwell on it.

"The kid's awake. We have to go-now." Velvet whispered.

Hansel said nothing, but attempted to unsheath one of his Wind-and-Fire Wheels. Velvet placed her hand on his wrist to obtain his attention.

"Don't. He hasn't made us. We need to go." She quickly instructed. Velvet slipped her hand into Hansel's and tightly gripped it.

She rushed down the stairs with Hansel in tow. Her ears picked up the door slowly opening, which instilled a rush of panic and adrenaline through her body. Hansel was instructed by Velvet to not look back so they wouldn't run the risk of having their faces spotted by the young boy, who had swung the door open wider by this point. Unless Velvet's ears had deceived her, she heard the boy command them in a squeaky voice that they stop. Velvet had not looked back, but realized one single blunder that ran the risk of being their downfall: her ears. All the boy had to say to the police was a description of a bald man and a brunette with rabbit ears, and they would make the connection.

A series of swears filled Velvet's mind as they rushed out of the house and into the woods. The two did not stop running until the house was out of their line of sight. When they could no longer see it, they hid behind the trees. With her lower back on the bark of the nearest tree, Velvet placed her hands on her knees and bent over, taking several deep breaths.

Velvet's throat and lungs burned as her body struggled to replace the oxygen that she had lost. Her vision brought her attention to her fellow fugitive as he had placed himself in a cross-legged sitting position, not bothering to keep himself completely concealed behind the tree that offered him refuge. Hansel's hands, like Velvet's, were on his knees as well. His mouth was wide open as he tilted his head back on the tree, putting nothing else in his vision but the green of the deciduous treeline above and the small specks of blue sky that permeated the holes that were put in place by the spaces in the trees' branches.

Without warning, he closed his and began to laugh loudly. Velvet attempted to silence him, but to no avail. After a long pause of merely listening to his chortling on her end, Velvet could no longer stand the curiousity that such noises had elicited in her and asked the only question that had plagued her mind in that particular in that instance.

"What could possibly be humorous to you right now?"

Hansel chuckled once more, softer than before, and wiped a tear away from the corner of one of his eyes. He looked over and held in the next laugh, which served to emit a snorting from his nose.

"It's just that-I realized just now that neither of us had any way of knowing just how bad things would get. If you were to tell me just two weeks ago that I was about to become an enemy of the 4 Kingdoms, shave my head, and break someone's house just to use their razor and shaving cream, I'd have called you crazy. Two weeks ago, I was picturing how I would fit in on a team at Beacon, fantasizing what our name would be, wondering what our dorm would look like." Hansel took a long pause and looked down at the ground. The smile disappeared from his face, replaced by an expression of solemnity. "You know," he said. "Normal things that a teen is supposed to think."

He sniffled his nose and wiped away a second tear from his eyes. The palms of his hands covered his face as he slumped over and began to cry softly. Velvet did not hestitate to walk over and sit on the ground next to Hansel, now also exposed to any potential onlookers. She wrapped her closest arm around Hansel and rested her head on his shoulder. There was no apparent reaction from Hansel as a result from this reaction.

 _This is all happening because of me._ Velvet thought in a moment of striking revelation. _I ruined his life. He'll never get to do any of the things that he wanted to because of me. He'll never have what I never could have in the first place: a shot at living a normal life. Being a normal teen. It's all gone for him, and for what? Because he wanted to help a girl who barely even knew him?_

Determined to keep her composure for Hansel, Velvet refused to let the melancholy she felt within pour out of her in any way. She simply kept her eyes on a leaf that looked to be from some unseen shrub. Every little detail was accounted for, every part of the stem and all of the bumps and crevices on its surface. Like their hopes for redemption and the chance for her friend to lead an average life, it was slowly dying. It had begun to curl and brown at the edges, while the portions closest to the center clung to life.

Velvet, despite all of her cells telling her not to, looked over at Hansel. He had lifted his head up and was looking down at the space that seperated the both of them. She looked as well, but could not see what it was that had attracted his attention. After a moment of deliberation, she realized that he was doing the same thing that she had earlier: looked at something, anything, to take his mind off of their current predicament. Without a word, Hansel reached into his satchel and extracted what Velvet thought was a protein supplement bar of some sort. After closer inspection, however, she saw it was a bar of her favorite brand of candy.

He split in uneven halves and handed the larger half to Velvet. She ate as sparingly as possible, taking small bites. Velvet lifted her head up off of Hansel's shoulder and adjusted herself so that she could place her back flush against the wood of the tree. She offered thanks to Hansel for the bar, then attempted to erase his gloom with humor, as she often did with her younger brother when he was in such a mood.

"I'm surprised that your father would allow such delectible scum in your life." She said with a small chuckle. Hansel smiled and looked over at his companion once more.

"He didn't. I remember hearing that this was one of your favorite brands, so I thought to pick some up when I saw...you know."

"Who told that this was my favorite?"

"No one told me. I have a bad habit of eavesdropping on people's conversations. Most of the time, I don't regret it. I know it's still a bad habit, though."

"I won't judge." She said with a mouthful of chocolate.

Hansel stood and offered his hand to Velvet. Shfe took it, then remembered a key conversation point that she had forgotten to bring up again after last night. As soon as she was on her feet, Velvet reached into her bag and pulled out the silver Scroll from the night before. It was held up at Hansel's eye-level for dramatic effect.

"We still need to talk about this. Where did it come from? And who were you talking to last night?"

Hansel sighed and looked around the Scroll into Velvet's eyes.

"Ok. I'll answer all of your questions right now. Answer to question one: I brought it from my home. My father has it, oddly enough, for situations like these. It's a Scroll that can't be traced, so long as one doesn't talk on it for more than ten minutes. I was talking to, as I said before, someone who has a place that we can stay at for a day or two. We can trust him."

"How do you know?"

"I've known this guy for years. We can trust him, believe me."

Velvet looked down. She felt uneasy about leaving her life in the hands of someone that she had never seen nor met. It was unknown to her whether or not she wished to place that much trust in Hansel's judgement.

"Well. I suppose I can't really say anything. If you trust him, I suppose I'll have to try as well. You better be right, though. I'm trusting you."

"I appreciate that. You won't be disappointed."

"See that I'm not."

Up until then, Velvet had kept her entire attention on Hansel. As the silence was pierced with a screeching cry, she knew that this was a terrible mistakes. She looked around, trying to see if there was a creature nearby that was capable of making such a sound. Anxious that there was none, Velvet could think of only one other location that one would be able to find an unseen animal in a forest: above the forest. Without a word, Velvet began climbing up the nearest tree until she could receive a clear view of the area around them.

Velvet looked around for several seconds, turning until she was able to pinpoint the creature. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the terrifyingly familiar monster that sent chills down her spine. The name of her old adversary passed her lips as it caught sight of her and dove down from his point high up, a black hole that blotted out a portion of the blue sky.

" _Nevermore_."


	8. Chapter 8

Velvet immediately dove off of the treetop and landed on her feet and open palm. The shadow of the Nevermore grew larger as it sunk down towards its prey. A wave of fear swept over her as, in an instant, she was able to fully recollect all of the tales that she had heard of fights with such terrifying beasts as the Nevermore. All of the repressed memories of all of the fallen Huntsmen and Huntresses who were brave enough to stand against it came flowing back like a dam that had been welled up for a century. A cold sweat broke over her, and she froze in a trance. Her eyes stayed on the fast-approaching beast.

"Velvet, what's wron-" Hansel began. With that small, unfinished inquiry, Velvet snapped into gear, her mind immediately clearing.

 _They may have fallen, but I am not them. I will live to see tomorrow. I will do what we do best: survive. I may fall, but not like this. It won't be by your hand._

Velvet silenced him by tightly clutching his wrist once more. She pulled the both of them out of harm's way just as the Nevermore's head crashed through the trees and slammed into the earth that had just supported them.

The beast, having apparently lost sight of its prey, soared upwards once more in what Velvet recognized as the Grimm's attempt to gain a large amount of momentum for its subsequent strike. Hansel swore and undertook the task of pulling his partner away from the scene of the latest attack.

Like nearly all of creatures of Grimm that Velvet had seen in her life, the Nevermore had a mask-like, white bony structure that overlayed the upper front of its head. It also possessed four menacing, glowing red eyes, two of which on each side of its head for heightened vision. It's black body, as Velvet had been taught, was almost impenetrable by most weapons.

 _So that begs the question: How do we take it down? Hansel is almost totally out of Dust, and I'm not sure if my Hard-Light weapons will be enough to kill it. I suppose we'll just have to do some preliminary attacks to gauge our chances._ "I'll go up and try to hit it head on. It won't be easy, but I'll do it. We can gauge its vulnerabilities that way, and, when and if we have that information, we can attack it head-on?"

"Head on? Velvet, you're crazy. Unfortunatley for you, I like crazy. You do what you need to. Just don't die. I'll kill you if you do." Hansel laughed softly and backed away to allow Velvet ample space to summon Icarina's wings.

She looked upward and summoned the copy of the wings. Her knees bent, and she propelled herself upward. With her heightened vision, she saw the distant Nevermore turn and begin its descent in her direction as soon as Velvet was above the trees. Velvet aligned her body in the proper direction and ascended at a rapid pace, on a direct course for the beast that sought to kill her.

It took a matter of seconds for Velvet to come face-to-face with her adversary. In a deadly gamble, she steeled herself to not divert from her course until the last possible moment. When the beast was but mere meters away, Velvet manipulated her own momentum and barrel-rolled to momentary safety away from the razor-sharp beak of the Nevermore. Its body was a black blur in her peripheral vision as the world spun around her.

Two more spins in the air followed her initial action before she made herself stationary. Velvet looked down to see that, much to her satisfaction, the Nevermore had placed all of its attention on her. The Grimm turned itself to Velvet once more and ascended. Not taking her eyes off of the creature, Velvet ascended further, as she had initially planned to.

Once she was high enough to feel slightly light-headed and able to see the curvature of Remnant, she replaced her wings with a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her back. As gravity overtook her, Velvet placed one of the arrow copies over the string of it's bow counterpart.

She straightened her body and blocked out the wind that whistled around her. Another period of waiting preceded the firing of the arrow copy. During this, Velvet summoned three more arrows and clutched them tightly. She added another arrow to the one that had already been on the string, took a deep breath, then waited until the Nevermore was on top of her once more.

As she did before, Velvet barrel rolled out of harm's way. As the trees grew ever closer, she wasted no time in firing the four arrows in pairs of two at the back end of the Nevermore. She was certain that, like most armored creatures and vehicles she'd encountered in the past, the heaviest portion of the armor was located at the front. With this in mind, she lost her arrows and resummoned Icarina's wings.

A wave of angst and frustration filled her as she watched the arrows fly into the hide of her enemy and shatter. From what she could see, there was no damage inflicted on the Nevermore.

"Not so much as a flinch." Velvet thought aloud.

As the monster turned once more in another attempt to slay Velvet, its enemy formulated yet another plan in her mind. She waited until the beast, as it had done twice before, dove for her. Contrary to the two previous occasions, however, Velvet pushed herself back and waited until the beast had nearly passed her once more. When the lower back of the Nevermore made itself seen, Velvet pushed forward and tightly clutched into it and held on for dear life.

The Grimm dove upwards once more, apparently unaware of the teenage girl that had desperately hitched a ride on its back. She watched as its head tilted downwards and side-to-side, seemingly looking for prey.

"Velvet!" Hansel cried out from a distance that was unseen to her.

 _No no no. What are you doing, idiot? I'm fine. I know what I'm doing. You're creating an unecessary risk by crying out._ Velvet mentally scolded, not wanting to make any verbal actions at the risk of being discovered by the Nevermore.

"Velvet, hold on! I'm coming!"

 _Ugh, you IDIOT! Stay where you are!_

Velvet silently debated the best course of action for her particular situation, then elected the one that, while being the fastest, would also be the most dangerous for her.

"No! Stay!" She said quickly, yet loudly.

Her attempt failed on both levels. The Nevermore looked back at Velvet, then tried in vain to tilt its head back to snap at her. Its attention then turned to Hansel when he began to strike him with his Wind-and-Fire wheels. Hansel was only able to perform a few strikes before he sunk back to the ground.

The Nevermore sunk low and tore apart a large part of the woods. Velvet looked over the edge of the creature to see if her companion had survived the assault. Not being able to make confirmation, Velvet took a large risk and jumped off of the low-flying Grimm. When her descent reached the treeline, Velvet grabbed onto nearby branches to soften her fall. Once her feet were on the ground, Velvet wasted no time in sprinting to the new clearing in the trees that the Nevermore had made.

Her eyes darted across the scene to see if she could spot her friend. Velvet sprinted from downed tree to downed tree, calling out Hansel's name to no avail. Finally, she found him. He was unconcious, but breathing(Velvet made it her first priority to ensure that he was alive). Two large trees had left Hansel pinned, making it impossible for Velvet to rely on her physical strength to free him.

Looking up to make sure that the Nevermore was not attempting to attack once more, She summoned a large battle-ax copy. Velvet placed her sights on an area of the top tree that was barely a safe distance from Hansel. She raised the ax over her head and swung it down as hard as she could. To her surprise, she was able to split both of the trees with her single strike.

The next several minutes were occupied with Velvet's struggle to lift the four sections of the two trees off of Hansel. Though her outfit would not permit one to see, all of the muscles in her arms and legs flexed as she slowly lifted each section over herself and off to the side, away from her operations. Hansel had remained unresponsive through this, the only sign of his vitality being the perodic lifting of his midsection. Aside from the times that she gazed upwards to reassure herself of their safety, her eyes never left Hansel. A wave of concern and anxiety had raged through Velvet as a river might a mountain.

In her own mind, she felt that the only one to be held responsible in the event of Hansel's death would be herself. Velvet refused to accept that such a fate would befall Hansel. She refused to allow the possibility to come to fruition, and resolved to do everything in her power to see that no such events would transpire.

 _As long as there is a breath within me, as long as I can stand and fight, I will stand against evil and protect the ones that I love. No one will die while I am there to protect them. I'll die before I lose anyone, like my father before me._

Velvet proceeded to repeat this in her mind like a mantra. She lifted the last log off of Hansel, giving her reason to replace her feelings of woe and desperation with those of relief. Such relief was extinguished by the noise of the Nevermore's flapping wings. Velvet's ears flickered as the flapping came ever closer, trying to find, once more, the best course of action for their current predicament. Velvet elected that it was in both of thier best interests to have Velvet run with Hansel to shelter (despite Velvet not knowing of such a place) and wait until he was rested enough to regain conciousness. Then, the two would formulate some sort of plan, based on the intelligence that Velvet gathered.

 _I just have to get him away from here first, though._

Velvet lifted up Hansel's limp body and struggled to hoist him over her back. She then began to run as fast as she could in such a position. Hansel's body bumped up and down with every step that she took. This was put out of mind, knowing that slowing psychologically would be just as deadly as slowing physically.

Velvet had clutched Hansel's wrists in a death grip to ensure that she would not further impede their rush to safety by having to pick him up off of the ground.

Her eyes darted through the trees in desperation. She was perfectly aware of the dire nature in which their predicament was, and how imperative it was to get Hansel out of danger. Velvet looked up once more to see if they were being followed, and was pleased to see that there were no such followers to speak of.

Reassured that they were safe for another few moments more, Velvet placed her eyes at ground level once more. After several more minutes of dashing through the dense woods and looking upwards, Velvet saw it. It was a large cave that had the potential to house the both of them. A gasp of disbelief and joy passed her lips at the sight of the rocky formation. She found a second wind within her and began to sprint at speeds that she once thought unattainable by human or Faunus. The forests' landscape seemed to speed past her, being insignificant as compared to her view of the cave, their only available sanctuary.

She could almost taste the lost sense of asylum when, as it had done so many times prior in this saga of Velvet's life, a screeching cry from above thrust her back into reality. She craned her neck back and saw that their familiar beast had dived once more in its latest attack. As before, it tore through the treeline, not having any regards for its surroundings when faced with its persistently elusive prey. Velvet swore under her breath, then placed all of her energy with sprinting as fast as she could with Hansel in tow.

One foot after the other sent her closer to her destination. The dead leaves and branches crackled under her feet as she pushed herself past the normal limits of her own endurance. Despite her desperate attempts, Velvet was unable to calm her heart rate and block out the noise of the impending predator behind them. She decided to compensate and only keep her eyes (she couldn't help but keep her ears trained on the Nevermore behind them) on her target ahead.

Velvet eyeballed the entrance to the cave and wagered that, if she was to run them into the cave deep enough, then the Nevermore wouldn't be able to reach them. She hated gambling with their lives like this, but it had to be done, ironically, for their survival. A mental note was made to laugh at this paradox when their lives weren't in immediate mortal danger. For the moment, she continued sprinting.

The trees nearer than Velvet would've preferred exploded in splinters behind her. Despite her strong urges, she refused to look back out of fear that it would slow her down enough for the Nevermore to grab them in her beak. A mental image of such a scene filled Velvet's mind, prompting her to run faster. The cave entrance was ever closer, as was the relationship Velvet felt with death.

The Nevermore let out another screeching cry. It nearly made Velvet and her sensitive ears stop cold in her tracks, but she pushed on. Tears had begun to stream down her face as a result of the combination of the searing pain that her weary body experienced, along with the strain on her hearing. Yet, in spite of this, she pushed on still. Velvet was aware just how much was on her shoulders(in a figurative sense, of course. She'd been well-aware of Hansel's weight for some time) in that moment.

Finally, after what felt so long and drawn-out, they reached their destination. Velvet slid Hansel onto the floor as far into the cavern as her weary body could manage. Before she could see just how far, Velvet was forced to dive forward as well. The Nevermore sent a rush of air forward as it(at least, it's what Velvet thought that it did) snapped at her back in final attempt to capture at least one part of its prey.

Fortunately for Velvet, however, it failed. She rolled onto her side and continued rolling until Hansel stopped her. Wasting no time, Velvet turned to see if her earlier gamble had paid off. If it didn't, the both of them would have mere seconds left to live. Apprehension plagued her nerves. Velvet had rarely questioned herself more than she had in that instant. Shortly thereafter, there were rarely any other moments in which Velvet had felt more pleased with herself.

The Nevermore struggled in vain to penetrate the boulders that made up the entrance of the cave. It successively backed up and slammed itself into the entrance. Small pebbles fell onto Velvet's head with each strike against the cave entrance and all the mountain around. Velvet supported herself on her elbows and laid on her back. The Nevermore poked it's beak into the hole, then looked into the cave with two of its four eyes.

Velvet felt a smirk cross her lips as she reveled in the idea that she had cheated death by a hair. Once the Nevermore flew away, but not far(Velvet could still hear the sound of flapping wings and screeching cries), Velvet laid flat on her back and stared up at the roof of the cavern. Hansel still recovered next to her, curled onto his side in the position that Velvet had slid him into. Along with the dissonant noises of their would-be assassin in the exterior of the cave, she heard his soft breathing. Oddly enough, the sound of his breathing calmed her for reasons she had no way of grasping at the moment.

"What are we gonna do, Hansel? How are we gonna get out of this? Any bright ideas?" Velvet asked of her unconscious companion. She looked over to Hansel, knowing that there would be no response. Velvet looked back to the ceiling, then looked to the entrance. Her mind began to attempt to formulate a plan that would liberate them current plight. Initially, she thought of nothing. However, upon recalling her success with the cave entrance and the Nevermore, a stroke of what she thought to be pure genius struck her.

"What if I were able to do it again? With a bigger hole? One that could keep him lodged long enough for us to escape? I think that I saw that the Emerald Mountains are near here. I could use _that,_ then come back here and take Hansel out of here. All I have to do is not die. Nice." Velvet thought aloud, stroking her chin as she did so. A soft chuckle passed her lips as the revelation entered its final stages.

Without another word, Velvet stood and placed her eyes on Hansel. She placed her hands under his armpits and began to lift. His feet scraped across the cavern floor as Velvet placed her friend in a particularly dark section of said cavern. It was a near-certainty that no human intruders would be able to see him here without any form of visual assistance.

A dire probability passed her mind. Velvet pondered whether or not she would be able to protect her sleeping companion from any nonhuman entities. She was sure that Hansel would be safe from the Grimm so long as he refrained from having any nightmares. That only left the danger of Fauna bandits that may be roaming about nearby.

It pained Velvet to think of how she would briefly be unable to provide protection to her friend. The thought of simply waiting crossed her mind, but she silently feared the possibility of the Nevermore breaking through the cave entrance or cave in the entrance in its frantic attempts to. If they were to both be caved in, then they would surely die. Velvet would take the less-likely risk of Hansel being discovered. Velvet elected to put an end to this threat, there and then, alone.

With a newfound sense of confidence, Velvet walked over to the entrance of the cave and poked her head out. The sky that she saw was only populated with puffs of white clouds, no black masses to speak of. Her eyes continued to scan the skies until her target was located. It was circling their position, occasionally craning its neck down, seemingly attempting to locate any prey that would be attempting escape. Velvet ducked back into the cave whenever she saw this.

She took several more deep breaths, now realizing just how difficult this plan would be to execute. Velvet darted her head out once more, failing to attract the attention of the Nevermore. Waiting to see if its head would crane down(and being subsequently satisfied that there were no such movements to speak of), Velvet darted out into the nearby treeline. Her mind contemplated how to successfully attract the attention of the beast a safe distance away from Hansel and the cave.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that she was standing next to one of the areas where the Nevermore had decimated the trees. She knew that it was far too close to the cave, but it gave her yet another idea.

 _If I can find one of those areas again, farther away from here, that'd be the perfect place to do what I need to._

Velvet looked to the area around her to see if she would be able to spot one these areas from ground level. Her mind had been in so many places, she had forgotten where they had come from, much to her own chagrin. It didn't take long to locate one of these areas with her heightened vision, however. She spotted many uprooted and splintered trees a short distance away and resolved to make it there alive. Her eyes darted upwards one final time, then she brought them back to her destination.

From tree to tree, she darted closer to the clearing. After a time, Velvet began to actively try to attract the attention of the Grimm. While still sprinting, she began to whistle and flail her arms about. Velvet called out the Nevermore's name in a shouting manner. The cry of the Nevermore gave Velvet an indication that her plan had sprung beautifully.

Looking backwards and up, there was visual confirmation given to this indication. The Nevermore was swooping down once more on her position. Velvet ran faster towards the clearing, for she could not put the next part of her plan in motion unless the Nevermore were to see her out in the open. She looked forward, and was pleased to see that she was mere steps away from her clearing.

Velvet rushed to the center of the clearing and turned to face her enemy. The Nevermore tilted its body back and shot a barrage of spear-like quills from its underside in Velvet's direction. Velvet primed herself, then leapt upwards onto the nearest quill. She performed this action in rapid succession, repeating it until she was able to jump onto the back of the Nevermore once more.

The Grimm attempted to knock Velvet off by spinning, but to no avail. She clutched onto the feathers, then put herself in a crouching position. Once the Nevermore stopped spinning for just a moment, Velvet sprinted to the head of the creature. Once she was at the tip of its head, she dove off and employed Icarina's wings. She sped forward towards the Emerald Mountains, hoping that the predator would attempt to follow her. Out of her peripheral vision, Velvet turned her head back ever so slightly and saw that the Nevermore had indeed taken the bait.

She sped forward, doing everything she could to keep herself ahead of the beast that closely trailed. The Emerald Mountains were extremely close, only a matter of minutes away. Velvet knew that, if she could make it to the mountains alive, then she would have to then try to find a cave or crevice in the mountain to trap the Grimm. It was all a matter of staying alive long enough to do it.

The Nevermore screeched behind Velvet once more, causing her to flinch. Velvet dashed forward to make up for any momentum that her flinching may have taken away.

 _Just a little more, Velvet. Just a little further._

Velvet began surveying the mountains from afar. The large formations had boulders all over their faces, which was but one part of her plan. She desperately needed to find some sort of compromise in the mountains if she hoped to escape. Otherwise, she would simply die of exhaustion or be killed by the Nevermore behind her.

After several more minutes of exhaustive searching, such a place made itself available to her. It was a large mouth of another cavern that was located on the side of the mountains, nearly invisible from Velvet's current positioning. A large mound of loose boulders hung precariously over the roof of the cave, ripe for falling. Velvet swooped down and flew around the mountain until she was over the cavern.

"Time for stage 3." Velvet thought aloud.

As she descended further, the Nevermore did the same. Velvet took a gamble and proceeded to fly into the cavern. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, giving her reason to feel slight alleviation. The cave was deep enough to give her room to lead the beast in and escape. She would have to execute it perfectly if the plan was to end with her survival.

The Nevermore followed Velvet into the cavern as planned. Velvet pressed herself against the wall of the cavern for a split second before speeding to the entrance of the cave. As soon as she was clear. She stood on a rock platform and summoned a Dust rocket launcher. A single round was fired from the copy of the launcher into the natural supports that held up the larger boulders.

The dissonant roar of a single explosion followed by the sound of falling boulders crashing over the entrance of the cave. As the entrance was covered, Velvet saw the Nevermore rush towards the entrance in a last-ditch attempt to escape. It was all for naught, however. The large mounds of rock covered the entrance and effectively ended Velvet's bout with the Grimm with Velvet as the victor.

Nearly exhausted of any energy, Velvet's launcher disappeared. She fell onto her hands and knees, head drooping. The temptation to simply drop there and sleep became a very real possibility for Velvet, but she fought them. Hansel was waiting, and she refused to leave him vulnerable for any longer than necessary. She recalled her promise from earlier, and would be damned if she let it be broken.

Velvet attempted to summon her copy of her wings once more, but a sharp pain passed through her body when she tried. She was simply too exhausted to use her Semblance. With this knowledge, she'd resorted to walking to her original position by foot. She looked in the direction of the cave, and groaned. It was much further than she felt comfortable hiking, but it was the only option that had a less-likely chance of leaving her dead from exhaustion in the forest.

She quickly walked through the familiar deciduous woods as Hansel and herself had for what she thought was a week. Although every muscle in her body begged her to desist her self-destructive behavior, Velvet turned a deaf ear. Hansel was too important for her to simply give up. If necessary, she would die to protect him.

With this sense of obligation in her heart, Velvet continued on. The searing pain that she felt was placed out of mind, replaced only by thoughts of her companion. She knew that he was the most important to her at that point in time, and refused to think of anyone else. He did not know it, but Hansel was the key to Velvet's survival in that forest. She pretended to not know why, but she simultaneously was aware that she would not be able to hide these emotions forever.

Velvet shook that particular train of thought out of mind for the moment. A dangerous forest, in her opinion, was not the optimal place to fret over the emotions of a teenage girl. There were much larger problems at hand. She would make sure that there would be ample time later on to discuss these things at length.

For now, she focused on keeping her senses sharp. Her eyes and ears remained as vigilant as they possibly could be at her current health level. There were some points in which Velvet's vision began to blur. This elicited a reaction of rubbing her eyes and shaking her head. The urge to sit down and rest came and went, but was fought off time and time again Velvet's will to keep on.

The sun beat down on Velvet whenever she would step into an open clearing, causing her further discomfort. All that she could do was cover her eyes and push herself more. Whenever she was in such a clearing, Velvet would instinctively look up into the sky to reassure herself that there was no enemies circling above, waiting for an opportunity to end her life. Of all the times she performed this task, no such predator could be seen. This satisfied a weakened Velvet, who was in no position to fight another foe.

The unmistakable sound of a foot falling onto a branch behind her caused her ears to flicker. She swiftly turned to see who her pursuer was. There was no such entities to see, which made Velvet all the more suspicious. She was led to believe that, whoever was following her had taken refuge behind a tree.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" She demanded.

The sound of breathing could be heard, confirming Velvet's theory that she was indeed being followed. She assured herself that it could not be a hallucination.

 _Hallucinations don't breath, Velvet._

"Come out-now! I can hear you breathing, so don't make me come after you."

More crackling noises surfaced as Velvet's unknown follower likely shuffled his feet in uneasiness.

"I'll give you to the count of three! One! Two! Thre-" She shouted.

"Alright, alright, alright!" an adult female's voice called out.

From the tree emerged a tanned woman that looked to be in her mid-fifties. Her black hair flowed down at the same length as Velvet's, with her bangs curling over her forehead in a shade of dark grey. She wore a tight-fitting black long-sleeved shirt that gave way to a cloak that clasped around her neck and ran down her back to of her ankles. Around her waist was what looked to be a utility belt that carried several small black boxes with tools that Velvet couldn't see.

Under this belt rested the waistline of a pair of loose grey jeans. There were small nicks in several parts of the jeans and holes that were forming in the knees. Holstered over these jeans was appeared to be nothing more than a black metal cylinder with a white stripe running down its center. The color scheme of what Velvet thought was her weapon was the exact opposite to the combat boots that covered her feet.

A smirk covered the stranger's face, almost taking away Velvet's attention from the fact that her eyes were a milky white. Freckles covered the stranger's cheeks, paired with small scars on assorted areas. Her hair was pushed behind her ears by her hands that were covered with light-grey fingerless gloves. She quickly tied her long hair into a ponytail, then proceeded to place her hands on her hips.

"You're Velvet, right?" The stranger asked.

"Who're you?" Velvet asked, purposely avoiding the question. Her own question was answered, however, in the form of a memory. "Wait...You're-"

"Oh, good. Now we can skip the formalities and go straight to the part where you tell me just exactly what the Hell you think you're doing?"

"I'm sure you've heard all the stories, Miss Graymond."

"Call me Dorian, Velvet. 'Miss Graymond' makes me sound like an old woman. And I have heard the stories, yes, but I don't like to form an opinion until I get the defendant's side of the story. So, if you don't mind..." Dorian twirled her hand in the air and extended it towards Velvet.

"First, I have some questions of my own." Velvet said in a stoic manner.

"Heh. Kids. Fair enough, I'll indulge you, since you're Zandu's daughter and all. Ask away, youngling."

"How long have you been trailing us?"

"Since the day after you left. Not sure if Zandu told you, but I happen to be the best damn-wait. How old are you again? 16?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. Good. I don't have to censor myself,then. Anywhosiers, I'm the best damn Faunus tracker in the 4 Kingdoms. They-among other old friends- send me out to hunt down fugitive Fauna like yourself. Not only am I a damn good tracker, my Semblance is cloaking. They can't see me 'till it's too late. I was trained by the best of the best to be a triple threat. Plus, I use these special heat-seeking contacts for tracking. No one outruns me. Anything else?"

"What do you know about Neo?"

Dorian chuckled and threw her head back.

"You don't wanna know what I know about her. Believe me. Now, can I ask you something?"

"I don't see why not."

"Why not turn yourself in? Why run with that kid?"

"I don't trust the system. I know how the courts treat Fauna. I don't care what others teach me, my kind is still discriminated against. Running is better for a Faunus who values her life. I'll keep running until I can find a way to fix this. So...are you going to take me in?"

Dorian paused, looking up at the sky once more.

"No."

"No?"

"Nope. I understand exactly what you mean. I've seen a lot of it myself, actually. If you have an idea of how to fix this, who am I to stop you? I've seen the way you fight, also. You're worth more trouble than you're worth. So I think it's in both our best interests if we just walk away. Plus, Zandu was like my brother. I wouldn't feel right bringing his daughter in before she could rectify her mistakes. What do you say? Sound like a good plan to you?"

"It does. I only have one last question."

The smile returned to Dorian's face.

"And,pray tell, what might that be?"

"If you're so good at tracking, how come-"

"You heard the branch snap? The one that alerted you to where I was?" She finished Velvet's sentence.

"Yeah. Explain that."

"Simple, dear. I made the snap because I wanted to be found."

"You wanted me to see You?" Velvet asked in a quizzical fashion.

Dorian snapped her fingers and winked at Velvet.

"Bingo, kid. That's my whole bit,you see. I don't get seen until I want the other person to me. Like I said, it's part of what makes me the best at what I do. Don't screw up too bad, and you could find out what that's like, eh? Just do me one favor, Velvet?"

"What's that?"

"Don't make me regret this. Or you'll get a taste of Grey Wild."

Faster than Velvet could comprehend, Dorian threw her cylinder in the air, causing it to split into two long, metal rods. They fell into Dorian's open hands where she pressed a button on each rod. Once pressed, the rods each produced a long chain that ended with a large, spiked metal decagon. Dorian pressed two more buttons, retracting the chains. She thrust the hollow rods together to form a double-barrel shotgun.

"I'm not gonna hurt you with her. I just love showing her off." Dorian threw the connected weapon up once more, causing it to retract into its condensed, holstered position.

She reached into one of her pouches and pulled out an energy bar. She tossed it over to Velvet, where our heroine caught it with longing arms.

"Looks like you need that. Take care of yourself, Velvet. And I'd keep an eye on that friend of yours. I don't trust him."

"Noted." Velvet could see why she felt that way. Hansel did act suspicious at times.

"I'm not gonna hug you in case someone's watching. Maybe there'll come a day when we can. I'll see you around, ok?"

Velvet nodded. "I'll make sure of it. Thank you once again. You won't regret it."

Dorian nodded and turned. She waved one of her hands as she walked away.

"See that I don't." Dorian said. She jumped up into the trees, but Velvet didn't hear the leaves as she rustled them. After a few seconds more, Velvet could hear no trace of her.

Without skipping a beat, Velvet turned and continued on her way. She opened the wrapper of her energy bar and proceeded to consume half of it. It was decided that the second half would be saved for Hansel. It didn't take long for her to reach the cave. As soon as she entered, she was met by a familiar sight.

Her vision adjusted to the darkness, allowing to see that Hansel still rested where she had left him. She calmly walked into the cave, the pain in her body placed elsewhere on her mind. She walked over to Hansel, and gently laid her palm on Hansel's shoulder.

Almost immediately, Hansel's eyes shot open. His closest hand clutched Velvet's wrist. The other hand reached into the satchel that hung off his waist and swiftly pulled out one of his Wind-and-Fire wheels. A cold chill went down Velvet's spine as the blade pressed against her throat.

As soon as Hansel saw who he had in his grasp,he immediately dropped the blade and released Velvet's wrist.

"Damn, Velvet! I almost killed you!" He cried, stating the painfully obvious.

"It's ok, Hansel. It was my fault. I shouldn't have startled you like that.I should've called your name or waited for you to wake up on your own. "

Hansel said nothing for several seconds. Velvet placed his hand in her own and called his name.

"You can't blame yourself for relying on your survival instinct. You did what you felt necessary to stay alive. There's no shame in that. I'm not upset with you."

"But _I'm_ upset with myself. If you had died because of me, I couldn't forgive myself. Not only for the obvious reasons, but also-" Hansel stopped himself, and turned a beet red.

"Also what, Hansel? You know you can tell me anything. I'll understand." Velvet said, doing her best to console her friend. All of Dorian's warnings had been voided from her mind by this point.

"It's incredibly selfish."

"You've been nothing but selfless this entire time. You deserve to be a little selfish." She said with a chuckle.

"It's just-I would've never gotten the chance to tell you how I feel." He said, refusing to meet Velvet's gaze.

Velvet was certain that she knew where the conversation was going, but decided to let things take their course. Hansel lifted his head, looking into Velvet's eyes.

"Well, I'm here now. So tell me, Hansel. How do you feel?"

Hansel took a deep breath, then leaned forward. Velvet followed suit, now certain of how the conversation would end. These thoughts were confirmed when she felt Hansel's lips touch her own. She felt one hand rest on Velvet's lower back and the other on the back of her head. Velvet wrapped her arms around Hansel's neck and closed her eyes. Small abrasions formed on Velvet's knuckles as they brushed up against the cave walls, but she didn't care. It was her first kiss, and, for the first time, Velvet was able to be what her genetics and Remnant's prejudices had barred her from.

 _A normal teen._


	9. Chapter 9

"This is never gonna work." Velvet whispered as she kept herself close to Hansel.

Her head was ducked down to prevent being spotted by any of the pedestrian villagers. Her entire body, save for her calves, feet, and the fingertips that were keeping the long brown cloak over her body closed, were totally concealed. Her ears were extremely irritated by the thin black bow she had found on the same corpse that she had found the tattered, brown hooded cloak on.

Hours earlier, Velvet had asked Hansel to pull her ears back as far as he could. He did so with much verbal concern for Velvet's well-being. For this, she had to constantly push him past such concerns and tell him to keep going. She did not make it known to him the searing pain that pulling her ears back caused.

She knew that it had to be done, despite the pain. Velvet did not want to run the risk of the two of them being seperated and not being able to assist each other in an event that required such action. After several hours spent convincing Hansel to allow her to risk herself in such a manner, Velvet then was tasked with convincing him of tying her ears back.

Hansel kept his eyes down as well, concealed by a pair of dark wrap-around sunglasses he had happened to find from an area that he was characteristically vague about. The lower half of his face was now covered with a large blonde beard that he had spent the past few days growing out for this exact purpose. A small trace of hair upon Hansel's scalp gave an outsider a good idea as to the area where a flowing mane had once exerted its domain. He was doing a slightly better job than Velvet of looking casual and inconspicuous, even going so far as to bow his head in adknowledgement of those walking past.

"Oh. He seems like a nice boy, doesn't he?" One elderly man said to his female companion of the same age as they passed.

"Yes. So respectful and courteous." His wife concurred. "That other girl, however. She's mighty suspicious."

"My thoughts exactly." The elderly man lowered his voice, but was still heard by Velvet as they walked past down the walkway. "She does seem a bit...odd. But we shouldn't pay much mind. Such people are best left alone."

Velvet felt simultaneous relief and shame as the couple changed the topic of their conversation. It perplexed her as to why people would care so much about her.

 _Oh, that's right. You're a stranger to these people, moving like a creep in their village. You'd be the same if you saw someone as suspicious as yourself._

Every fiber of her being screamed for her to undo the bow as she walked down the street, but she resisted. Her knuckles turned white as she pressed down on the cloak in a failed attempt to take her mind off of the pain. The clamor around her provided a small outlet to ease her mind, but only for a moment. Soon, the noises only served to spike her anxiety and fear of being discovered.

"What's the name of this village again?" Velvet whispered, trying desperately to find a new outlet.

"I didn't catch the name of it. I'm sure we'll know soon enough. All I'm concerned with right now is whether or not this place has a Dust shop, maybe even some seamstress who can mend our clothes. If we have time, we can stop in some place for supplies. How's that sound." Hansel mumbled.

"You're taking the lead here. I'm just following for now. I don't care where you lead us, so long as it's not some place that requires us to get violent or run away from an angry mob. Got it?"

"Of course, of course. I'll try my best. But hey, life happens. You can't blame me if fate takes its course and we end up having to run or fight our way out of here."

"You know how I feel about running the risk of hurting innocents. These people don't have to pay for our crimes. Got it?"

"Of course. Now how well do you know this village?" She asked, daring a sideways glance at her friend.

"Well, if I don't know the name of the _village,_ then wouldn't that be just a tad bit of an indicator that I know nothing about this place that you don't?" He said, chuckling softly.

Velvet, initially offended, realized that this was his attempt at humor, and she felt the need to return the favor.

"Well, excuse me. You always seemed to be the man with a plan and all. I guess it's true what they say: the legend is always bigger than the man behind it."

Velvet's double entendre made Hansel's face turn a beet red.

"Did you just- Was that supposed to be-never mind." Hansel laughed once more, nodding to a pedestrian as he did so.

In the same fashion as the couple preceding this blonde, middle-aged woman donning a similar, newer cloak to Velvet's(the only difference being that a small clasp attached the collar of hers around the woman's neck), the woman spoke foully under her breath about Velvet's appearance. She kept her eyes forward so as to not meet Velvet's, and furiously flitted her hair as the two's paths intersected. The woman, who appeared to be the same age as Velvet's mother, quickened her pace in what she felt was an attempt to get as far away from Velvet as quickly as possible. A sting surged inside of Velvet as all of these details came together within her mind. It pained her to think of the manner in which human nature functioned.

Even though her ears were hidden, she was still discriminated against for a small discrepancy about herself. As it had always been ever since she was a child, nearly everyone would turn against her for one small detail. She had become accustomed to being judged for _what_ she was, instead of _who_ early on in her life. She had heard tales recently of certain Fauna( those that the media had associated her with) that had refused to simply cope with the conditions of her kind and silently push for reform as she had. Velvet did not agree with the new violent methods of the radical group, and aimed to keep herself under the radar(as she was failing to do now).

Hansel must have noticed that Velvet was still feeling uneasy, despite his attempts to assuage her anxiety. She felt his hand slide over her shoulder for a small second. A small smile passed over her lips, and she relieved one of her hands to lay it upon the hand that occupied her shoulder.

"We're gonna be fine, ok? I promise. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Ditto." She said with a smirk.

Hansel replaced his hand at his side and the two continued to walk down the moderately busy walkway. Raising her hand in the slightest, Velvet lifted her head up and began to scan the wooden shop signs for the stores they needed. She understood that such a demeanor would only serve to arouse more suspicion, but she felt it the less risky option. Should she lift her head up fully, she feared that someone would be able to spot her, thus compromising their concealment. In her mind, it was the lesser of two evils.

Soon, they came across the first shop that they sought: the local Dust shop. The two slipped inside the nearly store to see a middle-aged man behind the counter directly in front of them. He raised a hand and waved at the two while offering his greetings. Velvet offered her own soft verbal greeting while Hansel remained silent, not caring to remove his sunglasses.

The man, as so many people in the town seemed to possess, had a large, black handlebar moustache. A set of crow's feet occupied the spaces at the corners of the eyes that narrowed as he smiled at the pair of teenagers that had entered his store. His forehead, thanks to a visibly receding hairline, took up a large portion of the front portion of his head. What hair did remain on the man's head was tied into a ponytail that Velvet found to clash with the lack of hair on the other end. The ponytail was draped over the shoulder of the man, giving Velvet reason to take in his clothing.

His vest was olive green with a shirt that was a shade lighter. The level of care that he took in his appearance was shown by the combination of such a top with his tan khaki shorts underneath. The entire ensemble was completed with a pair of black sandals and white socks that encased his feet.

"Hello there. Welcome to 'Dust of Remnant'. I'm the owner here. Can I help you with anything?" He placed one of his hands on the glass counter in front of him, and proceeded to rub his protruding stomach with the other.

Within the three glass counters that formed a 'U' shape facing the store's door, Velvet was silently mesmerized by the array of Dust crystals and rounds situated on lush silk carpets within the glass cases. She had never seen so much Dust and so many forms of it in a single place.

Upon the walls, on small metal pegs, rested cartridges of Dust Bullets, ripe for the firing. Where there weren't such cartridges, long glass tubes with brass frames ran into the shop from the ceiling and down to behind the counter. Inside the tubes were different forms of Dust. Like the crystals, they were arranged according to their element. There were few colors(she assumed that they were mixtures) that Velvet didn't recognize, and she made a mental note to ask Hansel about them later. Regardless, the crystals held her in awe in a manner that only a Hunter could know.

"Uh, yeah. I was wondering if you had any Wind and Fire crystals." Hansel asked, concealing his voice by making it sound more gruff than usual.

"Well, ain't that an interesting combination. You planning on trying to mix 'em?"

Hansel laughed and removed his hands from his pockets. He placed them on the metal edge of the counter and firmly pressed his palms down.

"Mixing wind and Fire usually doesn't end so well, in my experience."

"Ain't _that_ the truth?" The shopkeep laughed heartily, pausing for a brief moment to conduct business further. "Let's see what I have."

The owner began to scan the contents of his counters. He pursed his lips, intently searching for the necessary crystals.

"Aha, there you two are." He moved over to the end of the counter that he had remained behind and extracted a set of keys from his pockets. He slowly entered the key into a slot that was blocked from Velvet's sight and turned the key. He took one more look at the two teenagers in his shop (likely to make sure that they weren't collaborating with each other in some attempt to rob him) before sliding the glass door open.

"How many vials do you need?" He asked, looking up at Hansel once more.

"Two each, please." He asked, his gruff voice faltering for just a moment.

Velvet noticed no change in the owner's expression, giving her the impression that he did not notice. Her anxiety level lowered slightly, yet she still made sure to remain vigilant for obvious reasons. She watched intently as the shopkeep lifted out 4 small vials of Wind and Fire Dust. He was set to hand them over to Hansel when he quickly retracted them. Hansel looked taken aback and raised his eyes to the face of the owner.

"Son, if there's one thing I've learned with 45 years of life, it's that you can never put too much caution in doing business with a stranger. Especially, no offense, shady-looking young folks like yourselves. I hope you'll understand." He said,his face taking on a stern expression.

Hansel smiled and nodded. "Of course. I understand completely. You're just looking out for your own interests. I'd do the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot." In compliance with the store owner's caution, Hansel reached into his pocket slowly and pulled out a long, brown leather wallet. From it, he extracted the appropriate amount of Lien and carefully placed it into the waiting hand of the owner. As soon as the plastic touched his hand, the store owner flipped the money, likely to determine it's authenticity. When he saw the black bar on the white backing of the currency,he smiled and placed the two vials onto the glass counter. The two met eyes before the owner allowed his eyes to fall on Velvet once more, and the large brown box over her lower back.

"What about you, hon? Any Dust for you today?" He asked, placing both of his hands on the edge of the counter once more.

Velvet raised her hands and awkwardly chuckled. "Oh no, thank you. I don't use Dust."

"Really? How, may I ask, does that work? If you don't mind my asking?"

Velvet felt silently flattered that she had aroused such an interest in such a self-proclaimed expert of Dust and Life itself. She smiled and walked over to the counter, careful to not reveal her face. She kept her vision on the keeper's face, which showed a hint of annoyance.

"I'm terribly sorry, but would you mind taking off your hood? It's for security purposes. I hope you understand." He said.

Velvet froze as the last few words left his lips. She moved her eyes over to look at Hansel, only to see that he had gone rigid as well. Her young mind scrambled for a plan, eager for a way out of this whole situation.

"Well, sir, she can't do that." Hansel replied in a slow,shaky tone.

"And why might that be?" He interrogated.

 _Oh dammit. This is it. We're going to be caught, or have to hurt this poor man because he's obviously going to try to apprehend us._

"Well, sir. It's just that..." Velvet's voice trailed as she trembled in fear. With every shiver and small jump, the small satchel and her box strapped to her back moved ever so slightly, giving an outsider an indication that she was making small movements that would otherwise be unseen to the naked eye, aside from those of a Faunus.

"It's just that she has a rare skin condition that makes her extremely sensitive to light. Any contact with the sun or any type of light, and she gets a severe burn all over. It's not pretty." Hansel quickly chimed in and, in Velvet's eyes, saved the day for both of them.

"Really? Why not just stay inside then?" He asked, squinting his eyes to convey the suspicion he felt.

"Well, sir,if you must know," Velvet added in. "I don't want to be defined by my condition. I would rather be defined my actions and my personality. I refuse to be beaten by what is happening to me biologically. I want to be who I am on my own terms, not on that of some biological part of myself or of those who judge me for what I am on the inside." As committed as Velvet was to the lie, her small monologue wasn't a stretch from her ideas concerning her association with the minority of the Fauna. She truly longed for the day that the entire world would judge her for her heart, not the rabbit ears that she had simultaneously been blessed and cursed with.

To Velvet's surprise,a smile crossed the man's face when she fell silent.

"I understand. Hell, I know a few people who would do well to follow that same piece of advice. It's an admirable thing, hon. Really is in my opinion. In fact, since you're so adamant about living a normal life, how about I cut the price of your Dust costs in half? Least I can do for someone so brave as yourself and her friend."

Velvet let a sincere small cross her lips as she slowly raised her head in order to allow the keeper to see it.

"Thank you for your generosity, sir."

"Think nothing of it. It's people like you who make me glad that I got up this morning. Speaking of which, haven't I seen you two someplace?"

A large gulp slid down Velvet's throat, the idea of themselves being captured now becoming a reality once more. Her eyes darted downwards as she saw the man hand half of Hansel's Lien back to him. In response to the question came two grunts, the second in a lower tone than the first, in the negative followed by a swift "No, sir. Not from around here."

"I see. Are you two celebrities, though? I swear I've seen you two somewhere. Were you on a TV program or something?"

"No. I'm sorry, but we're not. I'd love to keep talking, but we have about a million different places to hit while we're passing through this place. You got a seamstress here in town? We got some clothes that need mending."

"Of course. There's a nice couple of guys just down the street who do that, along with smithing. Perhaps they could help?" He asked, furrowing his brow once more.

Hansel extended his hand over the counter and shook that of the owner who followed suit. The two raised and descended their hands and forearms in a strong embrace, moving them up and down swiftly. With that, the two parties bid each other adieu, Velvet's party walking toward the door. All seem to go according to plan until she heard a sharp beep from behind them. She turned in an inconspicuous manner and took note of the fact that the owner had opened a Scroll and was, apparently, recording.

"Yeah, can you tell if it's them from this angle?" He whispered into the Scroll.

 _"I'm sorry, but the male doesn't match the description and we can't get a clear view of the second subject. Did you see any distinctive features? Anything that may tell us it's her?"_

"Yeah _._ She lifted her head up just enough so I could see the top of her head."

 _"What did you see, sir?"_

"She's a brunette Faunus. With rabbit ears that look like their tied back."

 _"I see. Thank you, sir. We'll send a Deputy to your location. Thank you for the tip."_

"Hey...there's a cash reward, right?"

Velvet heard the dispatcher stop for a moment, then return with an air of annoyance.

 _"Thank you. Goodbye."_

 _Oh, no. This is why we can't have nice things, Velvet._

Velvet walked ahead of Hansel and whispered in his ear to follow at her speed. Hansel followed as she directed and asked what the matter was. She informed him of their new dilemma, bringing a grimace to his face. He called out her name, prompting her to look at him.

"What are we gonna do, Velvet?"

Velvet put her hands over her mouth.

"Well, for one thing, we need to get out of the village. The Sheriff and his deputies will be on us soon, and we need to be out of here by then. So my idea is to simply escape before we attract too much unwanted attention."

"Sounds good to me. Let's do it."

The two turned a corner when they caught sight of a Deputy just as he caught sight of them. He pointed and called out to the pair. The distance of the town square separated Velvet, Hansel and the Deputy.

"You two! Stay where you are!" He commanded.

The citizens that inhabited the square had their attention turned to the area that the Deputy pointed into. All of the eyes around became locked on them, sending chills down her spine. They began to walk towards Hansel and Velvet, likely trying to assist the Deputy in their apprehension. Some of them began to shout, others commenced to drawing makeshift weapons from assorted locations. Very quickly, the crowd achieved the appearance of a Lynch Mob to Velvet, the comparison reminding her of such heinous actions towards her kind during The Great War.

"Oh, Dammit. Things just got a lot more complicated." Hansel said through gritted teeth.

 _When doesn't it?_


	10. Chapter 10

"How does this happen? It's as if they _always_ exactly where to find us. I don't understand." Velvet cried, slamming her fist against the wooden wall of the small cabin that Hansel and herself had now occupied. She pulled back the curtains of the nearest window in an attempt to see if there were any sheriffs or deputies descending on their position through the darkness that had encapsulated the world of Remnant. A wave of paranoia had overtaken her as she tried to uncover how their pursuers could always manage to be one step ahead of them.

 _It's one thing to be this way in the cities, but this is just ridiculous. Even when we're totally isolated, the Atlesians know almost exactly where to find us. It's always just me, and…_

Velvet's voice trailed as she looked over at Hansel, who was sitting cross-legged on the long, red, golden-tasseled carpet in the center of the room. He was holding a lighter to the wood located in the fireplace in front of him, trying desperately to ignite the dry kindling in the cavernous space surrounded by ornate marble, along with a metal frame on the inside for protection. The terrifying thought that Dorian had placed in her mind came to the front once more, and she was unable to push it away.

 _Why would she say that about him? What is it that she knows? Could he be working with them? Have they come up with some sort of deal that works in his favor?_

Velvet allowed reason to take over once more, shaking her head of any such thoughts. She deduced that Dorian had likely told her that to make her feel the way she was now; paranoid, scared, distrusting of her companion. Dorian likely wished for her to become irrational, and make a small mistake that would eventually lead to their capture.

 _If anything, it's probably her who's been feeding the Atlesians information on our whereabouts. More than likely, she only told me what she did to throw me off of her scent and not question whether or not she has been continuing to follow us. I should've known that no Huntress would let us off that easy. I should've told Hansel about my encounter with her as soon as he was awake on that day. Rather, I made myself too easy to manipulate and am now probably paying the price for it. Nicely done, Velvet. Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to come out with it_

"Hansel. There's something that I need to tell you. It's about something that happened the other day while you were unconscious."

Hansel didn't immediately show that he had heard me. I patiently waited, crossing my arms over my chest. I locked my eyes on the back of Hansel's head as he continued to work with the wood and the lighter. The thought occurred to me of why Hansel didn't simply use his Fire Wheel, but I realized that the reaction may be stronger than required for a small fire to begin.

 _We don't need to die. We only need a fire. Think with reason, Velvet. You WANT to stay alive, remember?_

I laughed away any apprehension that I had felt before, and patiently waited for Hansel to respond. Finally, after another brief moment of pause, he turned on his and knees to face me. Before responding, he arranged himself by placing his hands on his knees, looking up at me.

"Sure. What's on your mind, Velvet?" He said, that charming smile finding domain over the lower half of his face once more.

She blushed, and looked away from his gaze, as much as it pained her to do so. I was embarrassed by the action and the mixed feelings that they gave me that she couldn't help but remain looking away so that Hansel wouldn't see and become concerned for her own welfare.

"Velvet?" Hansel asked. "What's wrong?" He rose into a standing position and placed his large hands on her shoulders. He beckoned her to look up at him, and she did so.

She choked on her first attempt to get the words out, then succeeded on the second attempt. "I—I met a Huntress in the woods the other day. It was while you were unconscious."

Hansel's serene expression was unchanged, and this made Velvet feel even worse for having kept such a large secret under wraps for so long.

 _I hid a secret that could have gotten us captured, could have gotten us killed. All this, and he doesn't even appear to be upset in the slightest. How?_

A smile, however small, cracked on his lips. His eyes closed as a small chuckle passed his lips. This was not the reaction that she had expected at all.

"Velvet." He began, pausing enough to have it click in Velvet's mind that he was pausing for a response.

"What is it, Hansel?" She said in a voice just above a whisper.

"I know. I've known for quite a while, in fact."

Velvet was shocked. She backed away from Hansel involuntarily. She felt as if a large electric shock had been thrust through her. Hansel's expression did not change in the slightest, to further her surprise. It was as if he was expecting this exact encounter to go down, and had already planned exactly what he would say. Once again, Velvet struggled to utter a response.

"H—How? How could you possibly know about that? You were unconscious. Were you faking? I don't understand."

"Velvet…have I ever told you what my Semblance was? What it was that made me so special?"

Velvet hesitated, sensing a trap, but not heeding those warnings. She allowed this to continue, curious of where it would lead.

"No. I had hoped to see it, but it never came to light, so I never asked. I didn't want to seem rude." Her voice wavered, the fear that she felt within becoming ever more evident.

"Oh, dear, Velvet. You already _have_ seen it. It's been evident for quite some time, in fact."

"If it's been showing, then how come I haven't seen it yet?"

"Your answer is in the question."

I became perplexed, the anxiety spiking in me. The demeanor in his face remained serene, and still served to make me feel something that I had never previously felt before: fear. The omniscience that he displayed and his silent refusal to let her in on what she wished to know made Velvet terrified.

"What do you mean, Hansel? I don't understand."

"Of course you don't." He walked closer to Velvet, and placed one of his hands under her chin. "Oh, sweet, Naïve Velvet. You haven't been paying attention at all. That's what made this whole ordeal easier and, admittedly, a little amusing. Thank you for that. These past few…what's it been, weeks? I don't know. All I know is that you've been playing a losing game this entire time, and you've been clueless about what's been going on."

Velvet's heart began to beat faster with each passing second. She began to feel the feeling that she would get whenever someone would make her the target of a sadistic prank at Signal. Despite her every sense telling her otherwise, Velvet allowed the conversation to continue.

"And what _has_ been going on?" Velvet inquired apprehensively. She heard several rustling noises from outside that served to make the hairs on her neck stand on end, but she ignored them so that she could focus on the larger problem that had presented itself in front of her.

Rather than immediately answering, Hansel lifted his collar to his mouth, and chuckled.

"You're about to find out." He said with a smirk. "Bloody Fang."

Velvet took a step back, and scrunched up her face to convey the confusion that his last phrase had elicited within her.

"What's 'Bloody Fan—?" Before Velvet could finish her question, a large series of bright flashes illuminated the night, sending several beams of light into the cabin through the windows. Velvet turned to look out at the source of the lights, when she felt a sharp pain erupt in the back of her head.

She fell to the ground in pain, and looked up at Hansel. His serene countenance had been since replaced by a sneer that was evidence of the dominance that flowed through Hansel's veins. He laughed heartily, and squatted down next to Velvet. She winced in pain, moving to rub the back of her head. Hansel must have mistaken this for a move to strike, because he primed his leg and slammed the end of his boot into Velvet's abdomen.

She cried out in pain, a small bit of spittle flying from her mouth. Her hands clutched the afflicted area, curling up into a defensive position. This was reason for Hansel to laugh even more, causing him to throw his head up into the air. Impulsively, Velvet began to crawl away to a location that she had not previously determined. Hansel laughed once more, and tightly gripped Velvet's ankle to impede on her advance.

"Not very smart, Velvet. Where are you even going to go, anyways? My friends have this place surrounded."

Velvet gasped at the sudden revelation that Dorian was sincere in her warnings that Hansel could not be trusted. The enemy was amongst her all along, and she had foolishly placed a large amount of trust into the enemy. It pained her to call him that, but it was true. The enemy was her closest companion; the enemy was Hansel.

"Why? Why would you do this to me? What have I done to you?" In actuality, Velvet did not care much for Hansel's motives. She was merely stalling so that she would be able to give herself an adequate amount of time to formulate some sort of plan of escape, or see if any sort of plan of action was even possible.

Hansel sighed and stood up, placing his hands on his hips. He looked down at me, then back up at the windows. "Not everything is about you, Velvet. I didn't do this to fulfill some sort of previously-unknown past vendetta that I had against you. No, nothing like that. Do you want to know why I did this? Why I struck a deal with the Kingdoms and abdicated the friendship that I pretended to have with you?" He looked down at Velvet once more.

His last question, more like the way that he worded it, stung Velvet. It hurt for her to realize that, not only were her emotions for Hansel not reciprocated, they were faked to look real. She held in the tears that threatened to run rampant on her cheeks. If anything, she would not allow Hansel to have the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She thought that he was waiting for another reply from Velvet, but his sigh and deep breath proved her wrong.

"The reason why was simply for my own. Now, it is a bit morally questionable, true, but frankly, I don't care. After I lost my spot in the tournament, I thought that was it. I knew that my father would disown me after such a failure, probably wouldn't even let me back into the house. I thought my life was over…until you came along. What happened there was perfect, and I knew that I could profit off of whatever came next, should I play my cards correctly. It was a gamble, and it sure paid off in my favor. All that I needed to do was meet you before you did the predictable and convince you to let me come with you. Of course, as planned, you let me, and phase one of my plan was complete. The rest was easy, and my Semblance helped me execute it beautifully. Oh, silly me, I forgot that I haven't told you what my Semblance is, have I?"

"I…don't believe you have."

"Manipulation. I can twist someone's way of thinking to my liking, make them feel the way _I_ want them to feel. It worked wonders here because, whenever I felt that you were getting suspicious of me, I would simply put some other sort of thought in your head. Your damn Huntress friend didn't make things any easier. It took all of my tricks to try to put those thoughts out of your mind, but by the gods, I did it!" Hansel chuckles and seemed to revel in his own sense of superiority. "I managed to become your 'traveling companion', and had you string this along for a prolonged amount of time. After you fell asleep on the first day, I contacted the Kingdoms and informed them of my…situation. They were most accommodating to me in return for my cooperation. After the second or third day, I met up with them to wear a wire, should you have any attack of conscience and admit that your actions were terrorist-motivated."

"They _weren't_ that way, though and you know that."

"Oh, come off it, Velvet. You and I both know that you are associated with the White Fang. All Faunus are. It makes sense that you'd do that to strike a blow straight to the heart of one of the highest officials in the 4 Kingdoms."

Velvet gasped and scowled at his insensitive comment. Velvet began to rise up and deflect any attempts of Hansel's to keep me on the ground. Concern filled his countenance as he realized that he no longer possessed the advantage of raw strength.

"How dare you? How dare you think that I would associate myself with their kind, simply because we are of the same race? You insensitive trash!" Velvet fully stood and punched Hansel across the jaw, sending him flying to the ground. He looked up from the ground with a mix of anger and shock.

"What the hell are you going to do, Velvet? Kill me? Where would that get you? There's nowhere for you to go anyway. As I said before, they have this building surrounded."

"I'm not going to kill you, Hansel. You're not worth going to prison or receiving the death penalty over. I've done nothing that merits me dying, and it certainly won't be you."

"I may be not, but you are. You won't get this out, even if no one will believe you."

Hansel reached inside of his shirt and flipped off the mic of his wire. He looked up at Velvet and sneered, pulling one of his Wind-and-Fire Wheels to the front of his person, brandishing it towards Velvet. She moved with fear and the interest of staying from harm in mind. "I'm gonna say that you attacked me, that I was forced to resort to lethal measures. I'm going to silence you before anyone has a chance to listen to what you have to say, and it will work. Do you know why? Because no one will question the violent habits of some dirty Faunus who's said to be a part of the White Fang, or any dirty Faunus in general."

"No. You won't silence me. I won't let you. I won't let _anyone_ push me around!"

"Oh. You won't let me? Velvet, I hold all the cards here. There's no way that you can win. Accept your destin—"Hansel was cut off by an entity that Velvet didn't immediately see, but felt.

Velvet felt a swell of anger flow through her. She moved to punch Hansel, but a familiar feeling coursed as she moved to lay a punch against Hansel's chest. Both of them looked down at his bleeding chest, and the turquoise blade that had ran him through. Hansel laughed, and began to spit blood upon Velvet as she could only look on in abject terror, trying to comprehend the immensity of what she had just done. She raised her gaze to look at Hansel once more. The two locked eyes as Hansel trailed blood from the corner of his mouth and off the edge of his chin. He ceased laughing, then replaced it with a mere smile of confidence.

"Con—congratulations, Velvet." Hansel said, coughing in the middle of his statement.

"For what, Hansel?" Velvet asked, trying desperately to keep her composure. She decided against dissolving the sword out of fear that Hansel's mortal wound would become direr with the gaping hold that would be left by the sword. Instead, she resolved to ensure that Hansel would remain awake, clinging to the false hope that he could still be saved.

"I wasn't sure if you were a criminal before. You truly seemed like you were an innocent girl who simply made a mistake. But you did the impossible. You proved me wrong."

Velvet knew the answer to her next question, but for the sake of keeping Hansel awake, she asked anyway.

"How did I do that, Hansel?" Velvet asked.

"You showed that you could be ruthless. That deep down, you really are like them. If you weren't a cold-blooded criminal before, then you certainly are now. Congratulations, Velvet. Now you'll always have my death on your conscience. Nice job, Velvet." With that, Hansel let out his last breath and leaned back, now only being held up by the blade that Velvet still held within him. She made the blade disappear, and he fell onto the ground. Velvet gasped and looked out at the people awaiting the signal to proceed with her apprehension.

 _This looks bad. What do I do? They'll surely kill me when they catch sight of Hansel dead on the floor. It was in self-defense, but they won't believe me. They'll likely kill me before they give me a chance to speak. I must flee. Now._

Velvet began to try to formulate a plan in the full of her mind, seeking desperately to find a means of escape. She looked around, taking care to keep clear of the windows, but could find nothing that would serve in aiding her. The situation became even graver by the second, and Velvet knew that every next second could be the one that would encase her demise. After several more seconds of thinking and brainstorming, she could only think of one option that would favor her survival.

Without hesitation, Velvet grabbed a log that was protruding from the fireplace, and took care to not burn herself on the burning end. She swiftly ran through the house, taking the positions of the windows into note once more. The various curtains and wooden apparatus located through the house were sent bursting into flame, the same decoy that she had envisioned minutes earlier. If her gamble paid off, Velvet surmised that the Atlesians would assume that she was trying to kill herself, and rush in to prevent such an impediment to her capture and swift execution. After the house was effectively set ablaze, Velvet stood in the center of the house, primed to put the second part of her plan into motion.

A Hard-Light Copy of Coco's Minigun formed by her side, sending a light glow to combat the floodlights outside the house. She strained to raise the weapon as high as she could, high enough so that the barrel was pointed towards the roof of the cabin. Once it was in the desired positioning, Velvet pulled the trigger. The small section of the roof burst into splinters, creating a hole large enough for the third part of her plan to come into play.

She waited for the brief few seconds in which the Atlesians took to kick in the door, rifles raised. Velvet quickly summoned Icarina's wings once more and soared upwards, as the soldiers looked on. Small pieces of wood on the rim of the hold struck her during her ascent, but she paid no mind to the pain. She flew through the air, avoiding the bullets that soared around her that came from the soldiers on the ground. This was not like last time, however, and she was able to escape unscathed. It was not totally easy for Velvet, however. Tears had begun to well up in her eyes, with the combination of her most recent betrayal and the horrible crime that it had led to her committing. Her vision became impaired, and she was unable to see clearly.

There was no immediate threat, evidenced by the distance that was put between herself and the Atlesian troops' voices. Velvet was drained by the overexertion of her mind and of her abilities after a time, she could not go on with flying. She hastily landed and quickly curled up in a ball next to a tree, where she began to sob uncontrollably. Her emotions were so twisted, and she had never felt as awful as she had in the moment.

Velvet questioned how much of her life was a lie, whether anything was real. She began to curse at anything that came to mind. This list did not exclude the subject of her father's death, her village's intolerance of her, Icarina and the trouble that their fight had inadvertently placed on her life as of recent. She cried for ages, a compilation of all the agony that she had felt for so long, long before she was forced to run.

The agony, as she had forgotten in that moment, served to attract the Grimm, one in particular. A pair of Ursas roared in the distance, loud enough for Velvet to cease her sobbing and rise to her weary feet. She did not wish to fight, nor did she have the will to. After all that had happened, the Ursas seemed like a convenient way out for her. Velvet wished no longer to fight, yet she did not want the public ridicule that her execution by the Kingdoms bring on her home village.

 _I have nothing left to fight for. If they want me, they can have me._

Velvet heard the Ursas getting ever closer, and her nerves spiked. The thought of how it felt to die crossed her mind, and she welcomed such a notion with entertaining arms. She forced herself to hold her ground in light of the impending beasts, her eyes finally catching sight of them barreling through the trees. Velvet closed her eyes, and waited for the feeling of being battered to death, or, less swiftly, being consumed. Either way, she was certain that her trial would soon be over, and she would see her father in the afterlife.

 _Should the gods forgive me for what I've done._ She thought to herself with much chagrin in her mental tone. This thought was one of the few that had not been prevalent before. However, in what she thought were her final moments, she silently prayed that a peaceful afterlife awaited her.

The Ursas, as she could clearly hear, were right on top of her. A mere few meters away, Velvet thought, one last time, of the image of her father, of Coco, and all that she would leave behind. She thought of the gods that she had spent all her short life worshipping, and did nothing short of beg for forgiveness one last time.

 _May they all forgive me, may they all not hold my transgressions against me. I'm sorry._ She thought, the tears streaming from her face even more feverently than before.

However, what happened next was not what Velvet expected at all. Cries of pain rang out through the air, but they were not her own. The cries were accompanied by large flashes of heat from directly in front of her, sharp cutting noise that were of none other than a blade, and the unmistakable sounds of someone, a human, engaged in combat. She opened her eyes and saw that her would-be assailants were dead, standing between them a man ( _No. He's a Faunus. I can feel it._ Velvet thought to herself, quietly pleased to meet someone like her again.) with a long, red blade ("Hey, they sounds like mine!" Rojo chimed in. Velvet chuckled. "Yes, but you…you're different from him. He was not the most pleasant of individuals.") drawn. His hair was in a spiked mess of the same color as his blade, with black accents at the ends. His outfit was totally black, save for a large red flower covering another white design on his back, to which he was turned towards me. He had on a mask that imitated the faces of the Grimm, a mask Velvet recognized as that of belonging to the White Fang. He turned his head towards her, and said nothing.

"Who—who _are_ you?" She asked, thinking of nothing better to say.

Turning and pointing his blade tip at Velvet, the stranger replied. "Who I am does not matter. It's your answer to that question that will determine whether I feel you are worth keeping alive."


	11. Part II Thicker Than Blood Chapter 11

"I won't ask you again." The stranger said, walking towards Velvet with his blade drawn. She couldn't tell if the blade was red in origin or if it was covered in dried blood. Either way, its size and tip was intimidating to the young Velvet, still relatively new to the concept of mortal combat.

"Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina." With that, he lowered his blade and cocked his head at Velvet. It was as if he were trying to determine just how much of a threat she was to him. He stepped over to Velvet, the ground crunching underneath the black soles of his boots. Velvet felt the urge to flee, but she had the small notion that she would not be able to get very far before she was dispatched by the red blade of the man in the Grimm mask. When they were but mere inches from each other, he wrapped a pale hand around Velvet's throat. His other hand pulled a dagger from a hidden sheath that was concealed by his pants, which was brought close to Velvet's ear.

"Why are you here?" He asked through gritted teeth. Velvet felt herself tremble at the close proximity between the two of them and just how close she was, once more to death.

"I'm not a spy or anything. I want no trouble. I was only trying to pass through." Velvet hesitantly replied, not bothering to hide the fear within her voice.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you. How do I know you're not a spy?" The stranger asked, brandishing the knife closer to Velvet's cheek. Her hair stood on end as this man brought the knife closer to her skin. He sneered and leaned in closer, cocking his head once again.

"If I were a spy, you wouldn't have found me." Velvet said with a small chuckle, accidentally quoting Graymond.

"Don't count on it. Now I'm going to ask one more time. Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Velvet Scarlatina. I am on the run from the law. I seek refuge from my pursuers." She spoke out of total impulse, and did not fully think through her response. The stranger released Velvet from her grip, causing her, breathless, to fall to the ground. Velvet caressed her own throat, looking up at the man who still held her at his mercy.

"Why did you come here? This is a force of revolution, not just some charity organization. If you do not believe in our cause or are willing to fight for it, then you have no place in our camps. Leave now. This is the only time I will tell you." He said with a snarl of his lips.

Velvet frantically tried to formulate some sort of plan that would secure her place at the camp. The only one that worked in her favor was one that made her sick to her stomach. She had never thought that the time would come when she was desperate enough to stoop as low as she was going to in order to stay safe.

 _Funny. Just a minute ago, I was wanting to die. Now, I'm back to fighting to stay alive. What a turnabout_.

"I can help. I…can be a member of the White Fang. I can learn your ways and become a productive member. I can do whatever you want, if only you'll give me the opportunity to try."

The stranger grunted, and looked about, as if considering his options. Finally, he replaced his dagger in its sheath and held out a hand to Velvet. She took it, and was forcefully pulled back to her feet. The two looked at each other, until the stranger looked away with a grimace.

"I don't like this. If it were up to me, I would have you thrown out as food for the Ursa like you wanted in the first place. Luckily for you, it's not up to me. I'm going to take you to Supreme Leader Khan. Surely you've heard about her on the news. She will decide your fate with the White Fang. Now come, before I decide to take matters in my own hands."

In a fervor, Velvet began to follow the stranger in an unspecified direction. Whenever he would turn, she would as well. This occurred several times throughout their trek through the dense, wooded area. Occasionally, the stranger would look back at Velvet, doing what she assumed was ensuring she was not conspiring to attack him from behind or run away. Always satisfied that no such event was transpiring, Velvet looked on as he turned straightforward and continued on his way.

The two remained silent during this leg of the journey. The only sounds that Velvet was able to pick out was the tweeting of birds, the crackling of fire nearby, and indistinct voices that she could not accurately make out. She felt that this was likely a signal that they were both far away from their destination, and close at the same time. Before she was able to have any further thoughts in her mind, the stranger stopped and swiftly turned, pulling a long black ribbon from his pocket.

"Turn around." He said with an imperative tone.

Velvet, not wanting to agitate her captor, did as commanded. The stranger pulled the ribbon over her eyes and tightly pulled back. She could feel the bow being tied, as evidenced by the stinging along her temples.

"Make no mistake. If you try to run, or try to overpower me, I will not hesitate to kill you. Are we clear?" The stranger violently whispered in Velvet's ear, sending chills down her spine.

Velvet grunted in the affirmative and nodded. The stranger nodded as well, and nudged for Velvet to move forward. She did as silently commanded, moving forward blinded. Her heightened senses only went so far, her navigation being owed in no small part to the red-haired man's not-so-gentle hands leading her. All that her senses could offer her was the sound of crackling fire nearby and the distinct scent of the wood that was being burned. She heard a cacophony of drunken voices (that's what they struck her as, anyways) that gave her a strong hint of where the stranger was taking her. Despite this, Velvet elected to remain silent, trying her damnedest to not give away any knowledge that she may have gained.

Several more seconds of listening transpired before Velvet's shoulders were violently gripped, bringing her advance to a swift halt. She felt the urge to move her head, but quickly deduced that there was no use. Even with her hearing, there was no earthly way for her to gain her bearings via vision. As much as she hated to admit it, Velvet would have to wait for the ribbon to be moved away from her eyes. A single set of footsteps came within touching distance of the pair, causing Velvet's mind to go blank as she focused on any information that may be said.

 _Of course, that's assuming they ever do and just don't kill me right away._ She thought just beforehand.

"High Leader, I found this—"The stranger began to speak, but was silenced by what Velvet perceived to be a slap from the other person who had just come onto the scene.

"How dare you speak to me before first being addressed?" It was a female, someone who sounded to be 10 years Velvet's senior.

An awkward silence followed, the only sound filling Velvet's ears being the scraping noise that the original stranger stroked his likely-stinging cheek.

"Forgive me, High Leader Khan." He said with chagrin and a hint of annoyance, like a small child annoyed by his chastising mother.

"You're forgiven. Now, what news have you, Brother Adam? Who is this…guest that you have brought to us?" Supreme Leader Khan inquired.

Velvet heard the clothes of Adam rustle, and the lower elevation of his voice afterwards indicated to Velvet that he was kneeling before the Supreme Leader.

"Supreme Leader, I found this Faunus traveling along our borders. She wishes to join our ranks."

"Then explain to me, Brother Adam, why she looks like a prisoner? From the way you make it seem, she should be a revered guest!"

"Forgive—"Adam began, but he was peacefully silenced by the Supreme Leader.

"Apologies will not make our guest any more comfortable. Take that blind off of her. So we can greet her properly."

Without a word, bright light momentarily blinded Velvet as her sensitive eyes became accustomed to the near campfire. She met her eyes with a dark woman with cat ears and black markings on her bare arms. She possessed a cerulean dress with dark-purple fringes that went down to the midway point of her thighs. Her legs and arms were littered with thin scars, evidence of the various battles that she had been involved in over the course of her career in the White Fang.

"Welcome! What, pray tell, is your name, brave warrior?" The voice that she spoke in aggravated Velvet. It was far too sweet, and made Velvet stand on guard for an impending ambush.

"Velvet Scarlatina." Velvet said apprehensively. She did her damnedest to not squint her eyes at the Supreme Leader Khan. The last thing that she wanted her to do was antagonize her 'host' in any way and run her welcome short.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Scarlatina. As I'm sure you already know, I am Sienna Khan, High Leader of the White Fang. This is one of my lieutenants, Adam Taurus. He will be the one who will oversee your initiation into the group."

"But High Leader—"

"Do not question my decisions, Brother Adam. I have given you your position, and I can still take it away."

Adam was almost instantly complacent, rising to his feet once more.

"Yes, High Leader."

High Leader Khan looked over at her subordinate, scowled, and then turned a warm face back to Velvet.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Brother Adam will oversee your assimilation into the Order, ensuring that you are capable to do what is necessary for Faunus-kind. Before that, however…"

Khan's voice trailed as she withdrew a dagger from a sheath that she revealed as soon as she lifted a side of her dress in order to expose her thigh. The sight of the clean silver blade sent a chill down Velvet's spine. Velvet felt the urge to take flight in what she took as a direct threat against her life.

Don't overreact. You could just be overthinking it. Let things transpire and see where things turn out.

"Hold out your hand, either one will do. With the palm up, please" Khan beckoned.

Velvet looked down at the blade with a heavy anxiety in her heart.

"What, if I may ask, is this for?"

Khan laughed, cocking her head back. She was like this for only a moment before she looked back at Velvet.

"Clever girl. Don't want to enter into a binding contract without knowing what you're getting yourself into. I like it. Well, if you must know, this is part of our initiation into the White Fang. A little rudimentary and admittedly primitive, but this is one tradition that we are satisfied with keeping around. That's all."

"What are the other conditions of joining?"

"I am glad that you asked. Firstly, you must take the oath before the council, swearing your allegiance to our cause. Secondly, after proper training, there is the matter of proving your allegiance."

"And how would I do that?"

The smile quickly faded from Supreme Leader Khan's expression, only to return in a false shell of its previous self. She chuckled in a condescending manner and briefly closed her eyes. She opened them once more a second later, meeting Velvet's gaze once more.

"I appreciate your gusto and your desire to leave no stone unturned, but it would behoove you to not take such a casual demeanor with me. I only let it slide because this is our first meeting. Do not expect me to be so generous twice. Everything will be made apparent to you when we see it fit to. Do I make myself clear?" She said in a stern tone, one that made it apparent to Velvet of how she demanded attention from her subordinates.

Velvet nodded in agreement. She knew it unwise to cross such a dangerous potential adversary. She knew that, were she to survive with these people, she would have to oblige them and play their game. In this mindset, she held out her hand as beckoned.

"Good girl. Early steps are the ones that serve as a foundation for the stairway that leads to a trusting relationship. You're on your way there, with loyalty like this." High Leader Khan briskly clutched Velvet's wrist in her hand and ran the sharp blade along the length of her palm.

Velvet winced and fought the urge to retract her hand. Khan noticed and leaned in close to Velvet's ear.

"Good. Your willpower is strong. That will help you when faced with strenuous tests on the field of battle. Revolution is not brought about by those who cower in the face of the oppressed. We seek only those who stare down the barrel of the enemy and laugh in light of their own death. I can already sense such power in you. In time, I sense that your power will come to rival that of Brother Adam…or perhaps even myself." Supreme Leader Khan stopped for a moment to stare at Velvet with wary eyes, as if she suddenly saw that her new recruit could pose a threat to herself.

She brushed off the moment of awkward silence with a chortle and proceeded to slice her own hand open, pushing it into Velvet's without a moment's hesitation. Velvet was shocked that she had blindly merged their blood together without warning. She looked down at their clasped hands, watching as the blood dripped down from between them to stain the earth beneath in a dark red. Supreme Leader Khan must have taken note of this as well, because she backed away and smiled. It was a fake smile, and that scared her more than any Taijitu could.

"Those who are bonded for life are unlikely to betray one another on the field of battle. Another step of trust is built with this." In an action that shocked Velvet, High Leader Khan lifted her palm up to Velvet's cheek and smeared blood over it. Velvet shuddered, but did not move away. She was beginning to see the beliefs and ideology of Supreme Leader Khan, and felt that, the sooner she went along with it, the better conditions would be for her in this place.

This line of thought was disrupted by High Leader Khan tightly gripping Velvet's wrist once more and running her palm down the cheek of the Supreme Leader.

"Where respect is demanded, it must also be reciprocated. So is the way of the White Fang. This will be your family, Velvet Scarlatina. And this will be the family that lays you to rest. Are you prepared for that?"

Velvet nodded with a solemn expression, what she expected Supreme Leader Khan expected from her. This was the main reason why Supreme Leader Khan's pursing of her lips and shake of the head surprised her so much.

"No. I need to hear you say it."

Velvet nodded once more.

"I will earn my place here. I will be a member."

High Leader Khan gripped Velvet's shoulders, then proceeded to hug her.

"I'm glad to hear it. Now we take you before the council so that they can become assured of your allegiance to the cause. And rest assured, they will be. Welcome to the Brotherhood, Ms. Scarlatina."


	12. Chapter 12

"I must say, High Leader, I am greatly disappointed in your actions here today." The head council member said with a bow of the head in the direction of Velvet, Adam, and High Leader Khan. He wore a white robe that was fringed with red along the hood. His eyes caught Velvet off-guard the moment that he flashed them in their direction upon their entrance into the ornate hall. They were olive green, with the pupils mere slits, much like the cat's that she had seen in Valkryite.

He was surrounded by eight other council members, four on each side of him. Their own robes were the total opposite of the Brother in the center, red robes with a white fringe on the hood. All of them had a long, oak V-shaped table that separated themselves from the rest of the room. Their hands were uniformly crossed over each other on the edge of the section of the table in front of them, warily eyeing the trio as they walked in from the shadows of their hoods.

At each ends of the table stood a large, sleeveless guard with a long spear primed to strike. They bore the masks of the White Fang, the only difference from theirs and Adam's being only the fact that they totally covered their faces, and that said masks had a grey tint about them. Upon the party's arrival, that placed themselves in defensive positions, presumably ready to die for their leaders. This only elicited a laugh from High Leader Khan, and she waved her hands up in the air as welcome. The one on the right cocked her head, causing her purple ponytail to bob off to the side. It struck Velvet that she was investigating this new arrival, gauging what may happen. Khan noticed as well, and offered but a subtle nod in the direction of the guard. She nodded as well, and moved to a less awkward position.

"What part of my actions are you referring to, Brother Olivander?" High Leader Khan asked with a defiant tone in her voice. She smirked in the direction of her Council, which, judging from the tensing of Brother Olivander's palm over his closed fist on the table, made him extremely nervous. Velvet could sense the tension in the air, but said nothing. Rather, she let her eyes wander over the extremely ornate hall in which they had found themselves, taking in the illustrious design and architecture.

The floor was black marble with white engravings of a pair of Ursa being overpowered by a single warrior bearing a mask that matched theirs. It paralleled the statue that had a place in the town square of Valkryite, making Velvet uneasy. Behind the Council members rested a series of portraits that featured past High Leaders of the White Fang. Velvet couldn't help but notice their expressions as she ran her eyes across the paintings. All of them had solemn expressions, with their hands crossed over their laps, garbed in conservative robes. High Leader Khan was the exception, with her flashy outfit and smile of superiority, as if she truly believed that all of the previous leaders were merely placeholders for her.

"I am referring to the fact that you almost instantly brought this strange girl into our camps without any precautions whatsoever. How are we to whether or not she is a spy or not? Do you seriously expect us to merely let her in, just because you say so? We have to make sure of our own safety on the home-front before fortifying our own numbers. For all we know, she is indeed a spy from the Kingdoms and you have damned us all by letting her in. These are the actions that I am speaking of, High Leader. This is why we have a High Council in order, High Leader Khan. We must ensure that we all are acting efficiently for the betterment of the White Fang. If we go off and act only how we ourselves see fit, then the entire system falls to pieces. As saddened as I am to say this, we must not let this girl be the one to destroy our systems. Order is the key to any group's survival, along with cooperation. This organization in particular requires it more than any other. I need to make sure that you are totally prepared to cooperate with us, High Leader. A good way to start is by showing the slightest bit of complacency and removing her from our camp."

High Leader Khan lifted her head back and cackled in a manner that made the Councilmembers go rigid. "Complacency? You speak of unity, yet you tell me that I must be put on a leash that you put around my throat. You speak of trust, yet you undermine my own judgement." High Leader Khan turned to Adam, and smiled. "Oh, Brother Adam. Where before have we seen such hypocrisy? My mind seems to fail me."

Adam snarled, and looked at Brother Olivander with a rage that Velvet had not made a habit of seeing. "From the humans. These so-called Brothers and Sisters are attempting to undermine your authority. It seems as if they seek to take your power from your hands and replace it with themselves."

"I can't help but agree with you, Brother Adam. Now, perhaps you can refresh my memory. What is the word for such an action again?" She asked in a facetious tone, the smirk failing to leave her face.

"The word that you're looking for is 'treason', High Leader."

Once again, High Leader Khan cackled. She wiped a tear of amusement from her eye with the flick of her finger.

"Hmm. Treason. Quite the serious offense, Brother Olivander. What do you and the others have to say in light of such accusations?"

All of the High Council members stood up out of their seats in outrage and began to shout. They pointed accusing fingers at Velvet, Khan and Adam. Velvet looked warily at the other two, who looked oddly confident for the grim predicament that they had helped create. It was then that she realized the events were intentional, calculated. What the endgame was, she had yet to find out.

Brother Olivander calmed his colleagues down, giving them calming words to assuage the rage that had filled them all. After several seconds like this, the last of them took their place in their seats and begrudgingly looked over to the aggressors before them. As soon as they did, Olivander did the same with a dark gaze. "You ask what we have to say in the light of such allegations. You accuse us all of high treason, when all we want is mere cooperation, a unity between two groups working toward the same goal. I speak for all of us when I say that we are not going to lay down and let you demonize us. As sad as I am to say it, High Leader, but we find these talks of yours...highly unsettling. Until further notice, I'm afraid that we must invest all power in the High Council until we are certain of your place within the White Fang. By no means is this political sabotage. You've brought this on yourself."

To Velvet's surprise, the smile on Khan and Adam's face did not waver. Rather, they seemed to get bigger.

"Do you know what the first game was that I learned after my parents were killed? Did I ever tell you that story?"

"Stop stalling, High Leader. Guards, apprehend them." Brother Olivander waved his hand and pointed at the trio in front of them. Only one of them moved. The second guard, the one that had a ponytail in tow, stayed put, attracting the attention of the Council members next to her.

High Leader Khan refused to stop speaking, despite the advancing guard. "It was chess. Do you know the most important part to winning a game of chess?" Without a warning, she sped towards the guard, drawing the same dagger that she had sliced Velvet's palm with earlier. With the same speed and precision as before, High Leader Khan ran the length of the blade across an exposed section of the guard's throat. The entire action was complete so fast that Velvet was sure she was the only one who could see it.

"The most important lesson is to always stay two steps ahead. Sister Bernadette is well-aware of that." As soon as she said this, the ponytailed guard stepped away from the Council, to their shock, and took her place next to High Leader Khan. Their attention on this was short lived, however, as they fully registered the other guard who was dying before them.

All that anyone else could have seen was the guard desperately clutching his neck, trying to stop the blood that was profusely flowing from his neck. He dropped to his knees in a matter of seconds, tilting his head upwards to High Leader Khan. She leaned down to the guard, and whispered.

"The lines were drawn, and you had your choice. You picked your allegiance, and now you're paying the price for it."

High Leader Khan stood herself back up and planted a firm foot in the chest of the guard, furiously kicking him down onto the ground. He remained still, his hand falling from his throat and falling into the pool of blood that had already begun to pool under his head and the area surrounding.

The Council members gasped in shock, some lifting their hands to cover their mouths.

"Khan! That poor boy had nothing to do with this! He did not deserve to die!" Brother Olivander exclaimed, gesturing to the dead body in front of him. High Leader Khan pointed the bloody knife towards the High Council.

"This is what complacency gets you! This is what happens when you lay down and become docile in the face of adversity! This is what happens when you allow yourself to be pushed around, like the humans did with us for so long! You imply me to be treasonous? No. The real treason is you corrupting this poor boy with your twisted thoughts, with your complicated way of function, with your thirst to be in control, to feel included. You are the real monsters here, not me. You are the ones not fit to be in such a position of power…not I. Because of this, I will give you the same verdict that you tried to impress upon poor Velvet here. I want you to leave. This is the only time that I will ask."

Brother Olivander scoffed and looked from member to member of the High Council.

"You don't seriously expect us to simply step down and allow someone as tyrannical as yourself to take over? It would be the equivalent as handing an insane man a loaded weapon. Oh, no. I'm sorry. This is the exact same thing. So, no. We will not step down."

High Leader Khan looked down, then replaced her gaze on the people in front of her.

"I know that you wouldn't. From the moment that I began this, I knew that you would die before you would retract the democratic portion of our governing. Despite this, I knew that it would eat at me if I didn't first give you the option."

Fully aware of his situation, Brother Olivander did the unthinkable: he smiled. He bowed to High Leader Khan, then looked once more to his colleagues to ensure they were all aware where it was that fate was intending them to go. They all nodded and offered each other a serene smile before they each pulled black sabers from underneath their table. All of them calmly walked out from behind their table and stood in a line before the trio that was threatening to overthrow them.

"I trust you know that there is only one way that it can end?" Olivander calmly asked of Khan.

Khan nodded. "Of course I do. May the gods grant you all safe passage."

"I will tell you four the same. May they forgive your transgressions against them and us."

For a brief moment, the world around them grew deadly silent. It was as if the world of Remnant had stopped to let them settle their dispute. Not even the birds outside made any noises, or the groups that had previously been busy at work outside. A sound of the air being cut drew Velvet's attention towards High Leader Khan. She had bared her fangs and drew the claws that Velvet had previously not known about. Adam slowly drew his own saber, a red contrast to the ones that each of the High Council bore. Velvet, effectively terrified of the carnage that threatened to rock the hall around them, refused to draw any weapons.

"Velvet." High Leader Khan called out just above a whisper.

"Yes, High Leader?" Velvet replied, feeling awkward as the words left her lips. She did not see this woman as anything more than just that, and did not feel comfortable with referring to her as anything more.

"If you survive this, I am going to consider this your first real test as a member of the White Fang. Should anyone attack you, I do not expect anything less than their total extermination. If someone decides to pick a fight, you will dish back whatever they throw twice as hard. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes. I will do your bidding." Velvet was lying through her teeth, but she refrained from letting High Leader Khan know that.

One of the Council members stepped forward and raised her blade toward Khan. "Enough talk, traitor. We end this here and now." Khan laughed and threw a clawed hand into the abdomen of the council member. She let out a loud groan and grimaced as she looked down at the bloody spot that began to fill her midsection.

"Oh, Sister Indigo. You didn't think that I would go that easily, did you?" High Leader Khan stroked Sister Indigo's cheek as the blood began to stream from the corner of her mouth. To her surprise, however, Sister Indigo let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, Sienna," She replied in a mocking tone, sneering in the face of her assassin. "How could you possibly be so naïve to think that I was? I'm not you. I may be a bitch, but I'm not a little pussy." Sister Indigo wiggled her dog ears through her hood and bared her own fangs in spite of High Leader Khan's. It took Velvet a moment to register the double entendre, but she couldn't help but chuckle under her breath. Sister Indigo snapped at High Leader Khan's throat, forcing Khan to remove her hand from the gut of Indigo and jump backwards. Indigo took this opportunity to wildly swing at Khan, letting the sword fly from her hand and advance towards Khan. With an open palm, High Leader Khan slapped it away, sending it into the chest of Sister Bernadette. She clutched at her breastplate, trying in vain to remove the sword from her body. Failing, she fell to the floor with a loud thud, dead. Enraged, Khan rushed her eight adversaries, clutching nearby Sister Indigo to the point of making her bleed, and thrust her at the other seven. Three of the Council members were knocked down to the ground by their comrade, losing their swords in the process.

Brother Olivander commanded his faction to charge at the three who stood before them. Velvet felt a shock of anxiety as the five remaining Council members did as they were commanded and charged Velvet, Adam, and High Leader Khan. They cried out in fury that echoed throughout the wide hall. Velvet felt her ears perk in anxiety and her neck hair stand on end.

Khan was targeted by Brother Olivander and the nearest Council member to him, keeping her from attacking herself with their accurate strikes against her. She was only able to deflect the attacks with her dagger and a second short sword that she drew from a hidden sheath strapped over her back.

She glanced over to Velvet briefly before she was forced to return her attention to the task at hand. Adam was busy as well, his adversaries and himself performing the same tactics on each other, leading to a stalemate between the two groups. Velvet had little time to worry about that, however.

"Die, you damned blood-traitor!" The one Council member bellowed as he swung towards Velvet. She was only able to protect herself at the last minute by raising an armored gauntlet towards the blade, sending sparks between them. Velvet did not fight back, unaware of how she would be able to combat a trained murderer. Until she could figure it out, Velvet resorted to dodging the Councilman's attacks by diving out of the way. This only worked for so long, however.

"Sister Velvet, why do you hold back against such a deadly foe? Remember what I told you. Remember what you promised me." High Leader Khan said breathlessly as she struggled to fight back against her old comrades.

Velvet sighed and knew that, were she to survive this encounter, High Leader Khan would certainly kill her herself should she fail to eliminate the threat to her life. There was only one option other than death, and Velvet knew it. That was when she went on the offensive.

She waited until the Councilman attempted to strike once more, then she activated her Aura. With this, Velvet tightly gripped the blade of her sword and threw it away clear across the room. A look of shock filled his eyes for only a moment before he regained his composure. "Very well, little girl. I do not need a blade to dispatch you." He threw a punch at Velvet and connected with her jawline. Velvet fell to the floor, yet quickly regained her footing. She summoned a Hard-Light copy of a Warhammer, and wasted no time in throwing the full brunt of the head into the chest of the Councilman, sending him flying into the air across the hall. This attracted the attention of everyone else in the room, including the three that had regained their senses and lifted the body of dead Sister Indigo off of them.

Contrary to what she wanted however, this attracted their attention, and Velvet was offered three new opponents. The three of them charged at Velvet, in the same fashion as their comrades did before. Desperate, Velvet drew Icarina's bow and arrow. She launched a barrage of explosive arrows at the three, hoping to impede on their advance. Her gamble paid off, the arrows creating a large explosion that effectively eliminated any threat. Velvet couldn't help but notice that none of them moved when the cleared smoke made them evident. While this concerned Velvet, the call of her host brought her attention elsewhere.

"Velvet! Your abilities would be much appreciated over here!" High Leader Khan beckoned.

Velvet nodded and ran over to Adam's and High Leader Khan's positions. She performed the same action that she did before, giving the two enough time to move away from the large, deafening explosions that filled the hall. The High Council members flew through the air, their bodies twisting at unnatural angles as they hit the walls, the window panes, and other assorted areas of the hall. It was her intent to not seriously harm any of them, as she always tried to do, yet Velvet couldn't shake the feeling that she had failed to do so.

She covered her eyes as the flash filled the room, only removing her hand when the ringing stopped in her ears. Bodies were strewn all across the floor, in all types of angles. Some of them were stained with blood, like the body of Brother Olivander. His white cloak was stained with blood in various areas of his body, and Velvet knew not whether it was her doing. Of the others, she watched intensely for any signs of life from any of them. After a small passage of time, she caught sight of Adam walking through the bodies, watching for the same thing that she was. Every so often, he would find someone breathing, and waste no time in snuffing it out. Velvet covered her mouth in terror.

Just as she was about to cry out in objection, Velvet felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She looked to see High Leader Khan standing at her side, gazing at the same gruesome scene with a solemn expression. She said nothing in regards to Adam's ruthless and undignified execution of any survivors. Rather, she stayed silent for several minutes, following Adam's trail of destruction.

"I know what you are thinking, but this is a necessary sacrifice, Sister Velvet. You must realize that these people had to die for the greater good of the White Fang. We could not have moved on, should they have had their way." High Leader Khan.

Velvet sniffled, scrunching her nose to fight the tears back into their ducts.

"I—I understand. I agree with you. A…necessary sacrifice for the betterment of the group." Velvet lied. It made her physically sick to have to agree, let alone repeat the words of the insane High Leader.

"I'm glad to hear that, Sister Velvet. In time, you will come to agree with our ideals and work to actively make them a reality. What happened here today made me even surer that you are, with training and time, more than capable of doing just that. You performed exceptionally well under such stress today, and did not hesitate to protect your fellow Faunus when they were under duress. I turn, I hope you see just how much of a sacrifice that Brother Adam and myself made for you today. We put so much trust in you that we were able to abdicate the ties that we had with the people you see before you and defend your place within the White Fang. I pray that you realize how much this means, and how connected we are from this point on. This is where the bonds of loyalty are forged, Sister Velvet, and they are already showing to be very strong indeed."

Velvet didn't listen much to what Khan had to say. She didn't feel like what she did should be praised. She had killed people who, granted, had wanted to kill her, had no reason to die. She felt like she was the pawn in a dramatic shift in power, and this made her feel dirty. Deep down, Velvet knew that there was nothing that High Leader Khan valued her for other than her raw power, her convenient appearance into the White Fang's camps, and the potential she had to become one of her little cronies, as Adam appeared to be. It made her nauseous to think of how she had been used in this manner, and pushed it to the back of her mind.

Adam heard all of this, and paused his slow execution of the High Council to scowl at High Leader Khan and Velvet. "I wouldn't put so much faith in this girl, High Leader. When I found her, she looked as if she was actively trying to end her life. As for the events that transpired here today, I saw no form of loyalty. All that I saw was the desperate actions of a stupid girl interested only in keeping herself alive while holding on to her childish ideals. You may speak for yourself, High Leader, but I do not feel that she is worthy of our trust. Not yet."

High Leader Khan pinched the bridge of her nose and looked to the ground. "If I wanted your opinion, Brother Adam, I would ask for it. I trust Sister Velvet, and that is the only opinion that matters for the time being. Should you have some form of dissent with that, I suggest that you keep it to yourself. I have no time in meddling with your selfish thoughts. We have much bigger issues to deal with, like keeping the peace in this period of transition for the White Fang. The change from democracy to a single-woman autocracy will surely make great waves in the communities throughout the four Kingdoms, but we will silence the naysayers and ensure that this moves as smoothly as our last transition went."

All that Adam could muster for a reply was "Yes, High Leader." before he went back to impaling the laying High Council, with more of a sadistic fervor than before. When he was finished, he joined Velvet and High Leader Khan at their side.

"What do we do now, High Leader? As you said, the people will surely want a response as to what happened with the High Council's…removal from power. What shall we tell them?"

High Leader Khan removed her hand from Velvet's shoulder, walking slowly towards the opposite side of the room. She snapped her fingers and slowly spun on her heels with a grin on her face.

"We tell them the truth. We will tell the people that we came to the High Council with a new approach to how the organization could be run, along with a new recruit that we hoped would have their blessing. They reacted in an unfavorable manner, to our surprise, and attempted to have us killed. Unfortunately, in the battle that ensued, they were all killed, instead. We will tell them, that, in light of such tragic events, I will take it upon myself to lead this group until new members can be found for a new High Council."

"But there won't be a new High Council, will there?" Adam said with a smirk. It was then that Velvet's worst fears were realized, and that she was but a pawn to push them towards their own goal of a schism in the White Fang.

"Of course not. Brother Olivander, bless his soul, was a blinded man. He lived life with blinders on, never willing to see the new or take fresh ideas on things. You saw that personally, Sister Velvet. She was so distrustful that he was perfectly fine with throwing a perfectly good recruit like you out into the dangerous outside world, all over a little paranoia." High Leader Khan paused a second, then continued. "I must admit, however, that he was right about one little detail about myself. I hate sharing things, and if I am put in a position of power, that fact comes out even more. Such a lucky thing that I was born an only child." She said with a grin and a reflective look at a pool of blood she was standing in. "Progress waits for no one, and only the ones with the courage and the will to change the world around them survive when it comes through."

Velvet nodded and agreed with the words that came from High Leader Khan's mouth. As much as she hated to admit it, Khan was right. Her philosophy was a violent parallel to that of her own, and that scared her. The notion that she could have anything in common with such a violent tyrant frightened her. It would later make her wonder what it said about her direction in life, and whether or not she was on a course for the same destructive path that Khan had found herself on. She didn't care to think about that any more than she had to, and did her damnedest not to, as was the case with many things that secretly scarred the fabric of her mind.

"When do you feel would be the best time to carry out this phase of the plan? No doubt that the Brothers and Sisters around have heard the commotion and will soon converge to investigate what has happened." Brother Adam asked. High Leader Khan placed her hands on Adam's shoulders and looked into the visor of his mask, where his eyes were concealed.

"As they always say, Brother Adam, there is no time like the present. We will meet whoever is likely eavesdropping outside the doors and we will ask them to gather all of the Brothers and Sisters around for a meeting. We will tell them what has been discussed exactly according to plan, and we will answer any questions that they have. Afterwards, we will tell them to spread the news to other camps. Before the sun has set, the entirety of the White Fang will be made aware of the changes that have made their way into our world. All according to plan." High Leader Khan stroked Adam's cheek with her fingertips and moved towards the large doors to the hall. Velvet could hear people shuffling away from the doors, anticipating that High Leader Khan would open them in a wide and furious manner.

This was exactly what she did, putting her hands on her hips to meet the gazes of several masked members waiting at the edge of the steps of the High Council's chambers. Upon seeing her, they immediately bowed to one knee and looked to the ground.

"Greetings, my fellow Brothers and Sisters! I trust you are here to investigate what in the name of the gods' has happened! I will be happy to answer whatever questions that you may have…once you gather the rest of the camp to meet for a meeting here. Only then will I feel comfortable with explaining the tragic events that have happened behind these doors today." She rapped on the nearest door for punctuation. "Do I make myself clear?" She said, her voice taking on a more stern tone.

The members rose from their knees and slammed a fist against the area of flesh and armor that covered their hearts. They stood erect for a moment. "Yes, High Leader!" They shouted in unison before walking off to different places in the camp. Once they had effectively dispersed, Velvet watched closely as High Leader Khan casually strolled back to Adam and Velvet, who were left to wait for her to attend to the members outside. Out of fear, Velvet had elected the strategy of not looking at Adam unless she were forced to do so. The man aggravated her and made her fearful for her life whenever he was more than several meters away, and she hated him for that.

"What do we do now, High Leader?" Adam asked as soon as High Leader Khan was close enough for him to use a relatively quiet tone of voice.

"What did I—? Oh, never mind. I suppose now is not the time to be scolding you for such a small rule. It's understandable. Just don't make a habit of it. To answer your question, Brother Adam, we will do what have been doing ever since we have become acquainted and since I have come into power. We'll wait. These people will not question us. The ones that do will be taken care of. All we need do is tell them what they need to hear and reap the rewards of our righteous efforts. All we need do…is show a little patience for our comrades. That…and perhaps arranging the bodies of our fallen comrades in a more dignified manner. Sister Velvet, help Brother Adam see to this task."

With a grimace and a small groan, she joined the side of Adam as the two took to lifting up each body by the ends. No dialogue was shared between the two of them, a silent dance of the dead between the three. She would lift whenever she caught sight of Adam raising his own arms and heard him grunting. This was performed eight separate times, each time was more strenuous than the last. As before, she refrained from looking at Adam out of fear that she would cross him. He didn't say one word, only speaking in body language, which was vague in itself. She did not mind this, considering that it limited her need to interact with him.

After what seemed like hours, the task was complete. There was no interaction between the two, only their brisk walk back to where High Leader Khan was. She looked out onto the setting sun as it dipped under the sea of trees, the cool orange light basking the entire landscape in its essence. In that moment, Velvet saw behind the gruff exterior of the woman that she dubbed to be criminally insane.

She saw in her eyes a life of hardship, one of running, loss, and pain. It was as if that small slice of peace, of calm, was the first that had found since she was a little girl. Velvet felt sympathetic to her, feeling that Khan's own hardships in life were abysmal compared to what Velvet had endured in her small, quiet village. Despite the gap between the two of them, and the difference in the end result that the world had made out of them, Velvet couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship to the woman that the world had branded a terrorist. For the first time in their brief relationship, Velvet uncovered one small detail that almost everyone else on Remnant would have missed. They didn't see what Velvet saw.

They didn't see that High Leader Khan was a woman, morphed into what she was by the very world that sought to fight her and her radical ideals. Velvet didn't totally understand, but she felt that she would come to in time. Then, however, such an understanding was delayed by the convergence of the anticipated group grew in front of the High Council's chambers. Like clockwork, Velvet watched in awe as these people bowed to one knee and lowered their heads in the presence of High Leader Khan.

"Rise, my Brothers and Sisters. Today, I have tragic news to discuss, as I'm sure that you've heard. Today, a new approach to how the White Fang should be led was introduced to the High Council. Along with this, Brother Adam and I tried to gain their blessing in regards to the indoctrination of a new recruit: Sister Velvet Scarlatina. However, the High Council would not hear it. As sad as I am to say it, it was discovered that they were in fact planning to undermine my authority, assassinate me, and take the place as the sole entity of leading the White Fang. As much as it further saddens my heart to say it, they used our innocent meeting as a cover to put their treasonous scheme into motion. A battle ensued, and all of the High Council died for their wicked actions, along with a member of the Honor Guard, Brother Rosendo. He did not have to die, but his corrupted beliefs hastened his demise. Sister Bernadette, however, chose to give her dying breath to ensuring that the leadership of the White Fang would not fall into the hands of the misguided High Council. For this, her memory shall be honored with the following decision…for the time being, I am placing a furlough on the existence of a High Council."

The group began to create a clamor as the members of the mob took to speaking to each other in regards to what High Leader Khan had just said. She took on an expression of annoyance and shouted for the group to silence themselves. They immediately complied, and waited for High Leader Khan to continue. Looking satisfied that she had quelled the crowd single-handedly, Velvet was herself curious to see what she planned to say next.

"As I said, for the time being, I will undertake the responsibility of leading the White Fang alone. This will be the norm until I can find trustworthy Faunus capable of leading by my side and doing what needs to be done for us all. With that being said, I ask that you spread the word throughout the different factions in the four Kingdoms. Tell them that the traitorous High Council is dead, and that High Leader Khan has taken the necessary measures of what needs to be done so that the Group can continue as usual. I also ask you, my Brothers and Sisters, to remember the members of the High Council not how they died, but how they lived before they allowed their lives and hearts to become blackened with greed. That will be all. Once again, I am sorry to be the harbinger of such bad news, especially to the families of the deceased." The group began to disperse when High Leader Khan walked back into the temple and closed the doors, sealing Velvet, Adam, and herself inside.

"Brother Adam." She called out, her voice echoing through the deathly silent hall.

"Yes, High Leader?" Was Adam's reply.

She turned away from us, leaning all of her weight upon the doors. She sprawled her arms across the length of the door, putting each of her hands in the center of the carved, oak doors.

"It is not going to be safe for me for the time being while here in Vale. The tensions are high, and I feel that there may be someone who wants to seek revenge for what has happened to the High Council. I must retreat home, to Mistral. There is business to be done there, and this gives this the perfect opportunity for me to complete said business. That being said, I feel that the one who would be most suited to lead in my place here at the Vale faction would be you, Brother Adam."

"I am honored, High Leader." was Adam's short, stern reply. Velvet was unsettled by how emotionless his face was in light of such 'honorable' news.

"And so you should be," High Leader Khan continued. "You have shown to be an invaluable asset to the White Fang, reliable when you're needed most, and amicable to your fellow Brothers. You've earned this place, and I can think of no one else who would perform the duties according to my wishes as you would." She turned on her heels, proceeding to glide towards Adam. She placed her hands firmly on her shoulders, and smile with (Velvet couldn't believe her eyes) no hints of malignance, underhandedness, or slyness. It was one of the most sincere smiles that she had ever seen ("Even up to now. How do you like that?" Velvet observed. Rojo stroked his chin, then looked at Velvet, chuckling. "Huh. The most sincere act of affection you've ever seen…from a deranged terrorist. Go figure.").

"I will do what is necessary, High Leader." Adam said, his expression not changing in the slightest.

"I know that you will. Before I take my leave, I wish to leave one final task with you." High Leader Khan looked to Velvet, spiking her anxiety. This woman had confused her emotions and made her question her own judgment several times previous in the course of a few hours, and Velvet couldn't help but feel that she was about to complicate her life even more so now.

"Of course, High Leader. What is your bidding?"

High Leader Khan paused, spending another small piece of time smiling at Velvet before quenching her subordinate's thirst for direction.

"I want you to personally oversee Sister Velvet's training. I feel that she is just what we need in these trying times of ours. Promise me, Brother Adam. Give her the chance to hone her skills and become one of the greatest warriors the White Fang—or anyone in Remnant—has ever seen. She has the potential, and I want you to help her unlock it."

Finally, Velvet saw a subtle change in Adam's expression. It was one that turned sour, a look of begrudgement. He did it ever so slightly, so that no one who was paying as close attention as Velvet would be able to catch it.

"I will, High Leader."

"Thank you, Brother Adam. I know that I am leaving this faction of the White Fang in capable hands. Take care of yourself, and do your best to do what I've asked."

Hesitation from Adam, followed by another reply that matched the wording, tone and expression of the former.

With that, she stepped out from the hall, likely to gather materials for her journey. Adam joined, and Velvet was left alone with her thoughts. She calmly walked over to the nearest wall, leaned against it, and slowly let herself slide down the length of the bloodstained wood. She placed her hands in her head, and screamed so loud that for a time, her own cries were the only thing that filled her ears.

She felt the now-familiar feeling of salty tears clinging to her skin as they fell onto her dirty pants. She didn't remember a previous time in her life that she had felt so much sorrow, regret and pure pain in her entire life. She hadn't even felt like this following the death of her father. She attributed this to being around Coco to take her mind off of the agony of a dead parent, as Velvet did in turn for her. Coco is not here this time, she thought to herself before allowing her mind to turn to the carnage that she had been a direct cause of.

 _So many died, so many betrayed…all so I could live another day. Would these people have still been alive had I not come? Would they all have been able to peacefully disassemble, had I not been here today? Is it possible that Khan would have given them an actual choice? Or would the outcome have been the same? Was I a tool of Khan's? Or was I a tool of Fate?_

"Tell me, Velvet. Are you worth all of this bloodshed?" She asked herself, wiping tears from underneath her eyes. It was an answer that she would ask herself throughout her entire time within the throes of the White Fang.


	13. Chapter 13

The sun had barely begun to rise over the world of Remnant when Adam forcefully woke Velvet from her not-so-peaceful slumber. She awoke to see him standing over her with a set of tattered training clothes and the same grimace that he always wore. His mask was already over his face, so she could not see the likely annoyed gaze that Adam was giving Velvet. The only method he chose to awaken her was a heavy-footed nudge in her ribs.

"Get up." He said curtly, throwing the set of clothes onto Velvet's stomach.

"What are these?" She asked groggily, maneuvering the clothes in her hands to get a better look of them in the near pitch-black room. She was distracted by an annoyed sigh from Adam, before he offered his usual form of a cutting reply.

"Just get dressed. By the gods, you talk too much. How hard is it to simply follow directions and stay silent while doing it? Not everything has to have an answer. Just do what you're told."

With that, he stepped out of the tent that had been assigned to Velvet just before High Leader Khan made her escape in the dark of night. She changed out of her sleepwear (also assigned to her. It was nothing more than a tattered tank top and a pair of worn black shorts) and into the clothes that had been violently thrown at her by Adam. The condition of the training clothes were in no better shape than that of the sleep wear. It was but a white, loose-fitting vest that had the emblem of the White Fang over the back, much like the ones that she saw members around the camp wearing. The only difference between theirs and the one that she wore now was the condition.

The vest had seen better days. There were several holes in it, the most noticeable one being a gash that was over the area that was supposed to cover the lower abdomen of the wearer's body. The color showed that whoever had previously worn it had done a considerable amount of bleeding during their internment in the cloth. Velvet tried not to think about the possibility that whoever had worn the vest had suffered the fate that had threatened her for however long she had been outside the walls of Valkryite (so much time had passed, Velvet had forgotten just how much of it had indeed gone by.).

After slipping it over the tank that she already wore, she quickly inspected the pants given to her by Adam. The pants were common sweatpants, in about as good of condition as the vest. The knees were faded and almost nonexistent. Several stains littered the fabric, and, once again, Velvet tried not to concern herself of their origin. She slipped them on, accidentally putting one of her feet through the kneeholes on her first attempt. She corrected herself, then subsequently rushed outside of the tent where Adam was waiting with his arms crossed.

"It took you long enough. I don't have time to wait on you. There are other, more important matters that require my attention, and your sluggish way of moving about only keeps from doing that."

Velvet felt the urge to apologize, but refrained. She had the slightest notion that apologizing would only escalate the small disagreement into a full-blown confrontation; one that she could not hope to win. In lieu of such action, she began to follow Adam when he shook his head and walked off into the woods. As their previous encounter, she had not been previously informed of where she was going, and was simply expected to follow.

Velvet stroked her hands across the trees that they came across absentmindedly, trying to find other thoughts that would take her mind off of what her current predicament had become. The efforts were in vain, however, as she felt herself become lifted off the ground and violently slammed onto her back. She began to rise in a daze when Adam's sword blade inches from her throat.

"To become detached in the battlefield can only result. Do not lose focus from what you are trying to do. Losing sight of your goals and surroundings make you blinded, and I have yet to go up against an enemy that would hesitate to kill someone who is blinded in any way. I wouldn't, and if you waste my time by doing that again, I may just be eager to prove that about myself." He sheathed his blade, then began to walk away without helping Velvet to her feet. Knowing that staying still would be a disastrous move, she rose up and began to follow Adam once more. Her back was sore, but she dared not complain. Velvet knew that it would only be more difficult on her should she make it more difficult (or even inconvenient) for those who she was charged under.

They soon came to a stop in a large clearing, riddled with stumps of trees gone by. It was apparent to Velvet that the training grounds were hastily constructed by a group that was more concerned about taking over the world than preparing a proper area for their members to hone their skills. She couldn't help but grunt in a condescending manner, just loud enough so that Adam could turn back and glare. He said nothing however, only walking onto the clearing. Velvet followed, immediately feeling a third presence behind her. She turned on her heels, where she saw a woman dressed in the common White Fang garbs, almost identical to Velvet (with the exception of quality). Velvet's eyes were immediately lowered to the stranger's feet, and, more specifically, her black, worn ballerina shoes.

"How do you like my shoes, kid?" She asked with the smallest bit of sarcasm. Velvet stuttered to formulate an answer, making the woman lower her head for a small chuckle. "I'll take that as a yes." To Velvet's surprise, she extended her hand towards Velvet for a handshake. As a result, Velvet couldn't help but eye her hand warily for any traps.

She removed her Grimm mask, revealing a face that managed to glow in spite of the darkness around them. Her hair and skin were the color of honey, and they seemed just as soothed and warming as any such delicacy. Her hair was cut to the nape of her neck, a strawberry blonde color. A small scar, hardly visible, ran from the bottom of her right eye and her cheek. A nose ring glittered in the moonlight, to Velvet's surprise.

The first impression that Velvet had of this new stranger, aside from her strange choice of footwear, was her bubbly, all-around enjoyable vibes and the sharp contrast that it had with everyone that she had since associated with in her short time in the White Fang. It caught her off-guard, but she said nothing. The stranger put her hands on her hips and cocked her head in the direction of Adam and Velvet, smirking a small confident smile.

"Ah, don't worry. I'm not like Ol' Sourpuss over there." She joked, throwing a thumb towards Adam. He grunted and looked away. "Being in here hasn't taken the fun out of me. Name's Kandase. Kandase Bellerini." She informed Velvet, her smile growing as she took Velvet's hand in her. "Now, I know what you're thinking," She continued, morphing her voice to one of a more high-pitched nature. "'Wait. That doesn't sound like any kind of color!' Well, you're right. My family…well, let's just say that during the Great War, they weren't exactly on the right side through all of it. They listened to the wrong people and, as a result, they almost got burned pretty badly for it. I believe it was my…" Kandase paused for a second as she looked up, trying to recollect what she was trying to say. Finally, she looked back at Velvet and snapped her fingers. "Grandparents. Slick bastards. They fought like crazy, trying to destroy individualism and what-not like the moronic tools they were, and always did what they were told. They didn't wise up until the very end. Nothing says 'unwinnable war' like seeing all of your friends die before your very eyes like they did. That was when they decided to sneak out. From what they said, they posed as refugees. In those days, there was no CCT, so there was no way for anyone to ID who the enemy was if they weren't actively causing trouble. So…yeah. That's the gist of it. Fighting Big Brother just…runs in the family. That includes not sticking to traditions that they back. Instead, they named me after my grandmother. So…I suppose you could say that it's our own form of the name tradition. " She said with a laugh. She looked towards Adam. "It's alright. I can take her from here. You go do what you have to do."

Without so much as a word, Adam walked off into the woods from where he came. Velvet and Kandase both watched intently until he disappeared from both of their views.

"You know," Kandase began, attracting Velvet's attention. "You're not anything like Ol' Sourpuss said you'd be. What's up with that?" She said.

Velvet felt a rush of annoyance as she came to the realization that Adam had indeed gained a negative first impression of her, he also now struck her as the person who hung onto first impressions for dear life. She couldn't stand obstinate people like that.

"I don't know. Maybe he was quick to judge." She said, perfectly aware of how risky that comment was. For all Velvet knew, that could be the tipping point for a previously kind and amicable girl to pull a knife or gun and kill her.

"Yeah." She said, alternating weight on the balls of her feet and her heels. She looked to the ground then grasped one of her arms with the opposite hand. "It wouldn't be the first time. Adam can be a stubborn ass like that. You just learn to roll with the punches on stuff like that. You'll find out soon enough that there are a lot of people around here like that. The news channels aren't completely wrong about that aspect about us." All of a sudden, Kandase jerked her head up, wide-eyed. She startled Velvet to the point of involuntarily jumping back a little. Kandase laughed and snorted into the palm of her hand at the sight, immediately apologizing. "It's just that I totally forgot why we were out here in the first place. Okay, Okay, Okay." She said, clapping her hands with each "Okay". She stopped rocking on her feet.

"That's quite alright. We all forget things sometimes." Velvet said, hoping she could assuage any feelings of self-consciousness that may have plagued Kandase. She curved her mouth in a smile and laughed a small one that someone with Velvet's ears would not have been to pick up on. Velvet reciprocated the gesture, and Kandase beckoned Velvet to move to an area between the stumps. The two turned to face each other. Kandase bowed, giving Velvet to do the same.

"Rule number one of fighting in combat; if it won't kill you to show kindness to your opponent, then for gods' sake, do it. Just because you're in a tournament doesn't mean that you have to be an ass about it. In a life-or-death situation, however—"Kandase threw an elbow in Velvet's direction, causing her to almost lose her balance and slam her face into a stump near her. She quickly regained her footing by performing a handstand on said stump and performing a backflip, making sure that she wouldn't land with her back to Kandase. "All bets are off. You should try to kill your opponent as hard as they're trying to kill you. In other words, stun when they're trying to stun you, and don't hold back when they want nothing more than to put a bullet through your pretty teeth. I've lived a short time, and I've seen too many polite people on the battlefield. The only ones who should be polite are the dead ones who try to stay out of their comrade's ways. Got it? I know it's a little morbid, but it's the truth of a life like this."

Velvet nodded, now fully aware of the gravity of her training. She now understood that, while Kandase would be kind off the training grounds, there was no time to be silly. She comprehended that there was one lesson she was to be taught, one that should have been taught to her months ago: how to not only survive against trained killers, but how to effectively triumph over them.

"Ok. Show me your stance." Velvet did as she asked, slightly spreading her legs and bending her knees. Her hands were balled into fists, arms bent as she placed her hands in a defensive position over her face. She slowly slid her right foot forward, as she was taught at Signal. Unlike many of the Huntresses-in-training there, she excelled in Hand-to-Hand combat and could hold her own for a short time against opponents. However, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit diffident at the way that Kandase was looking over her stance.

She placed her hand under her chin and cocked her head, as if she was looking for any faults. After a few more seconds like this, Kandase's eyes met Velvet's, nodding approval. "You're doing everything right. Low to the ground, right foot forward, fists over your face to make sure that you don't get decked. It all looks good."

"But?" Velvet asked, growing over the past month (she assumed) to distrust any aplomb or anything good in general. She had come to believe that anything good would not stay so for long. Anything that could go wrong would go wrong.

This only elicited a look of sass from Kandase. She laughed and straightened her head, placing her hands on her hips instead. "Why does anything have to be wrong, Velvet. Learn to take a compliment."

"I'm sorry. It's been…a while since anything good has happened to me. I suppose I'm just getting into the swing of feeling like that again."

Kandase placed her hand up and closed her eyes. She pursed her lips, smiling again. "Preaching to the choir, hon. No one ever comes into the White Fang with a resume from some country club in Atlas. We've all been through hell."

Velvet felt tempted to further inquire about Kandase's own story, but she thought against it. She felt it rude to ask such a personal question to someone she had not even known for a full day. Biting her tongue, she allowed Kandase to continue with her training exercise. "Just because something is good, or even great, doesn't mean that you're allowed to stay there. Our enemies are getting stronger every day, figuring out new, fun little ways that they can kill us. If we become lulled into complacency, then we just make it easier for them, and that's no fun for anyone. Alright, so let's say that I have a gun." To Velvet's shock, she pulled out an actual pistol. Velvet jumped back as Kandase pointed it in Velvet's direction. "Let's say that I'm one of those Atlesian pricks. I'm having a jolly old time killing some 'terrorists', having a power trip, and, in the middle of the fun, I run into you. Obviously, I want another notch on my belt, so I set you in my sights. What do you do?" She asked. Velvet looked at the ground, trying to recall she had done the previous times that someone had tried to shoot her. Finally, she formulated the only response that she could think of.

"I would use my Semblance to disarm him, then make sure that he posed no further threat to me." Her response caused Kandase to quickly bow her head, nodding in the slightest.

"Okay. Try it then." She said, pulling her index finger up on her free hand and curling it towards herself.

Velvet nodded as well and raised a Hard-Light copy of her father's weaponry. She threw the blade as a javelin towards Kandase, then raised the shield to protect her vitals and head. Not knowing whether the gun was loaded or not, she would not take the risk of dying during a training exercise or of placing too much trust in a stranger. Velvet heard Kandase chuckle, easily sidestepping the javelin. It sailed past her, shattering into nothing against a far-off tree.

Realizing that she was nearly depleted of options as a result of her foolhardy attack, Velvet impulsively threw her shield towards Kandase, forgetting for a split second that it could be a fatal move. Once again, Kandase sidestepped the assault with ease. She had yet to squeeze off a shot, and Velvet was beginning to wonder whether or not the weapon was even loaded. Regardless, she summoned a copy of a Mace, swinging it in a slightly reckless manner. Being but a few inches between the two of them, Velvet realized far too late that she had left herself vulnerable to an attack. Deep down, she knew that Kandase knew too.

Kandase's expression went grim then. With no further hesitation, she squinted one of her eyes near closed, then adjusted the barrel of her gun. A small smirk became evident on her face, and Velvet knew as much as she did that she had won.

Oh hell. Velvet thought with a grimace about her. Kandase pulled the trigger, and the bullet whizzed across Velvet's shoulder, close enough that the heat of the bullet sent her nerves there into a frenzy. She looked over her shoulder to see the extent of her injury, taking her eyes off of Kandase. For this, she was repaid with a sharp pain to her temple and a bright flash across her vision. Velvet fell to the ground, taking a moment to regain her bearings. Once she was fully coherent, she caught sight of Kandase's hand reaching down to help her back up. Velvet met her gaze, and was unsurprised by the pursing of Kandase's lips and the subsequent breath of air that passed through them.

"That was gutsy. I'd say 'ballsy' but…" She quickly gestured down to Velvet's midsection then giggled a small bit before sighing and then returning to a more stern expression. "Anyways…it was stupid. If we were shooting to kill, you wouldn't have even known how screwed you were from the beginning until you had a piece of Dust between your eyes." Velvet took her hand and felt herself lifted up to her feet. "The raw talent is there, yes, and you're damn lucky that you have one of the best fighters in the Four Kingdoms to grab a chisel and help chip away until you're one of the best as well. Before that, we have to work out a few things. First thing I gotta say is, what the hell were you thinking throwing your shield at me? Other than your reckless charge towards someone with a damn gun. Doesn't matter what good your shield would have done. This thing probably could've taken it out before you would've been halfway over. Even then, what little protection it gave you was pissed away when you threw it. So…yeah. Gutsy, but stupid. Those two are a bad combo on the battlefield. Those two are ones that'll get you dead, and that's no fun for anyone, aside from the people who want you dead, I suppose. Let's try to see if we can shape up your tactics, alright?" She said, moving her gun up to Velvet once more, handing it to her. Velvet uneasily took it, unsure of what was to happen.

"First, take note of who your opponent is. If it's a dude, try to hit them where it hurts first. I know, not the most 'noble' type of fighting, but if they're pointing a loaded gun at an unarmed person looking to kill, then they kind of have that coming to them. If they manage to be more…resilient in that particular area, then you do this." Kandase had been pacing around Velvet, twirling her hand when she felt that such words needed added emphasis for effect. This was why it caught her off guard when she violently clutched Velvet's wrist, twisting her arm until she was in so much pain that she was forced to let go of the pistol, letting it clatter to the ground. Kandase raised her free hand and was primed to send it down over Velvet's elbow in a chopping motion. Velvet winced in what she thought would be a quick and extremely painful injury inflicted upon her. After a time, she opened her eyes to see Kandase looking down at her. It wasn't until then that Velvet realized she had been brought to her knees.

"Easy. I'm not gonna break your arm in two. I'm glad you recognize the technique, though. Just goes to show me that you haven't totally wasted all those years in a combat school with the prim and proper of fighting. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do, even if you don't come out of it feeling so hot. At least it means that you're gonna be the one who comes out of it at all. Savvy?" She said. Velvet nodded as Kandase released her from her grip, and helped her up to her feet once more. "Good. Now, let's see how you fare in hand-to-hand, eh?" Velvet replied in the affirmative, bringing a smile to her handler's face. It now became apparent to Velvet that fighting was the one thing that truly made Kandase happy. She had never met someone like that who had lived long to tell the tale.

Kandase wasted no time in initiating the sparring match. She swung a right hook, which Velvet awkwardly avoided, nearly falling as she did so. She was unable to get into a proper fighting stance, and was disoriented as a result. "The enemy isn't going to wait for you to be ready to fight," Kandase said, as if being able to read her mind. "They're going to want every advantage that they can get, and if they see an opportunity to get the jump on you, you bet your ass they'll take it."

She swung once more at Velvet with the opposite hand, Velvet used the palm of her hand to disrupt the flow of the fist. She used this as a chance to run her own fist into the abdomen of Kandase. It connected, and was met with a large plating of metal. Velvet's hand stung, and she felt a wave of confusion flow through her.

"Plate of metal had to be put over my stomach when I was 14. I was out dancing, funny how I fell for that, and I tripped over a log. I fell stomach-first and landed on an Aura-Piercing Land Mine left over from the Great War. A gut-full of shrapnel and a lot of blood loss later, doctors stitched me up as best as they could. So much of my abdomen was torn to shreds, there was nothing to replace. Organs, easy donations. No graft could put that back together. Just a little FYI." Kandase said, not sounding short of breath at all. It shocked Velvet, but she was determined to not let her show those emotions.

Kandase raised her knee to Velvet's stomach, where it connected. Velvet winced and fell backwards, the nape of her neck hitting a stump. Had she not activated her Aura previously, she certainly would have suffered a concussion and possibly died. Otherwise, she was able to roll back onto her feet, crossing her arms in a 'T' in front of her to take the brunt of a drop-kick that Kandase delivered upon her, hoping to catch her off-guard once more. It failed, and Velvet pushed her feet off of her forearms, the only cost of such an action being forced back to where she had just advanced from. Kandase did not relent, running towards Velvet again as soon as she was on her feet. She swung her leg towards Velvet's head, giving Velvet enough time to analyze the threat and push it away, momentarily knocking Kandase off-balance. Velvet advanced, clasping her hands together to swing them towards Kandase. She raised her head, caught sight of this, then grabbed both of Velvet's wrists. She swung her up, in the air, and flung her over onto her back. Velvet regained her footing, seeing Kandase too late for her to react against the impending assault. She was given a flurry of punches to her chest and face, sending her flying back, the recession only halted by a set of nearby stumps that Velvet violently found herself being thrust into.

She felt a sharp pain, but ignored it. Velvet charged at an expectant Kandase once more. She jumped into the air and swung her leg, connecting against her target's neck. She was pushed back, and Velvet used her momentum to perform a somersault just inches from Kandase, catching her chin with her toes as she performed the flip. When she was righted once more, Velvet saw Kandase rise from the previous assault once more to come sprint at Velvet again. She powered up an attack in the air with a closed fist, then thrust it down towards Velvet. The attack was narrowly avoided, and Velvet watched with simultaneous awe and fear as Kandase's closed fist left a small crater in its wake.

The smile she saw on Kandase's face equally terrified her, but her own adrenaline kept her from letting such emotions get the best of her. Velvet, waiting for Kandase to come within striking distance, threw a punch towards her face. Kandase avoided it once more, shoving Velvet to the ground. Quickly turning to her back, Velvet saw Kandase attempt to deliver another one of her punches while she was down. Velvet awaited the moment when Kandase's fist was close to her, then she clutched the speeding fist. She pushed it away with almost all of her remaining strength, and simultaneously kicked Kandase off of her. Kandase was sent flying over and landed someplace that Velvet did not see. She rose to her feet once more, turning to face her opponent.

Kandase swiftly rose to her feet and charged Velvet as she had done so many times before. She attempted to mimic an earlier attack of Velvet's, closing her own fists as she had done before. Velvet backed away, watching as Kandase struggled to keep herself on her feet. She spat a small bit of saliva out of her mouth, then wiped the edge of her mouth with her thumb. Without any quips or some kind of joke, she ran at her once more. Kandase swung at Velvet, which she ducked away to avoid.

Velvet realized all too late that this was a trap in which had ensared herself. The first indication of such was the slamming of Kandase's knee into the bridge of Velvet's nose, knocking her back into two stumps placed near each other. One of the rooted tree remnants dug into the small of Velvet's back while the other went just several inches higher into the base of her neck.

She found it difficult to rise up once more after that assault, and was unsure if she would be able to fight further. Velvet got onto her hands and knees, her eyes facing the ground. It was there, under the light of the rising sun, she was able to watch herself cough a small pool of her own blood underneath her head onto the ground. In what she later saw as reckless, she rose up once more, her pride getting in the way of reason. Velvet was sore in more places than she cared to acknowledge, and she did not wish for this woman to have the satisfaction of knocking her unconscious on the first go-around between them.

Velvet raised her fingertips up to her nose, where she could feel a set of abnormal ridges that were not previously there before. This enraged her, but Velvet knew that fighting much longer like she was would certainly leave one of them dead soon enough. As she had learned at Signal Academy, Velvet took a more conservative approach and assumed the position of her naturally defensive fighting stance. Kandase put her hands on her knees, let out a long breath, then stood erect once more, only able to utter one word.

"Damn."

Velvet couldn't help but laugh, which led to a sharp pain as she clenched her abdomen to do so. She fought the urge to sit down, out of apprehension against showing weakness to her sparring partner. Instead, she stood in place, waiting for the match to have officially ended. Kandase just stood there, however, laughing to herself in small gasps. She looked around at the trees and the sun that had since risen up, evidencing the world around Remnant was now in full swing, ready to give new challenges for human and Faunus inhabitants alike and grounds for them to throw themselves at each other.

"Well, I think that was a fine training exercise. Despite that, I do have other duties aside from training. They realized that I'm not good for anything other than fighting, so they put me as a guard. I gotta say, though. You did quite the number on me, and I'll admit that I'm not exactly at 100% here. Sure, you looked just as banged up, but I can use this as an excuse to show you the ropes, who's who, and what-not. Sound good? Good." She said, not waiting for Velvet to verbally reply. "First things first, though…we got to do something about that nose of yours." Kandase said with a chuckle, slowly advancing. Velvet couldn't help but nervous as she watched Kandase pick up two short sticks off the ground.


	14. Chapter 14

Velvet rubbed her nose as she walked along the beaten path with Kandase along the borders of their encampment. Velvet caught Kandase glance at her and heard her bellow out in laughter.

"Rubbing it won't make it feel any better. It's not one of those situations, Velvet." She directed, causing herself to double over as her laughter multiplied tenfold. Velvet scrunched her nose, concealing her amusement with the clever joke as the duo continued on.

As Kandase turned her head out towards the woods, Velvet couldn't help but steal a glance and take in Velvet's characteristics once more. She studied the inctricacies of Kandase's mask, the grooves that were there to begin with, and the ones that that were the obvious scars of the several trials in Kandase's short life. Velvet noticed once more of how Kandase towered over her, and how her biceps could be compared to triple that of Velvet's. If they were to have met on a battlefield, there was no certainty in her mind that Velvet would be scared beyond any hope of attempting to fight back. No amount of adrenaline would be able to overtake that feeling within her.

"So Velvet...if you don't mind my asking, how did you manage to end up here? I mean, everyone has their stories, most of them starting with 'When I was (insert age here), I had decided that I had had enough of those dirty humans.' Forgive me if I'm being presumptuous here, but I don't think that that's the case with you. I'm not sure, but I feel like there's...more to your story."

Velvet felt the strong urge to tell Kandase exactly what she wanted to hear, not omitting anything. It was not for her, however. Velvet had gotten the notion that baring her soul would lift the immense pressure that was upon her shoulders almost every day. She felt it from the beginnning, and could feel it mounting more and more with each passing day. It drove her near the point of insanity, and she had grown weary of putting on a brave face in the presence of others.

Despite these strong feelings, Velvet bit her tongue. Reason overtook her, and she quickly became aware of how disastrous such an action could prove to be for her. She hardly knew this woman, and, for all she knew, she could merely be a spy trying to fish information out so that she report it all back to Adam for the purpose of picking up potential weaknesses.

As a way out, Velvet feigned ignorance and put a simple smile on her face. "Well, I don't suppose my story is much different from theirs. I was being persecuted and hunted like a dog by the human...scum." Velvet fought to hid the sour feeling that hit the pit of her stomach as soon as those words hit her mouth.

She felt as if she were betraying the trust of all of the humans that had cared and helped to raise her into the woman she was then. That one small phrase served to slice like daggers into the beautiful memories that she had of people like Coco and the wonderful people ( _well, mostly wond_ er _ful. some of them ARE the reason why I'm here today.)_ It was a true internal struggle to hide her true emotions.

Her efforts seemed to pay off, however, as Kandase laughed to herself, refusing to take her eyes off of the treeline.

"What are you looking for, Kandase?" Velvet asked, trying in silent desperation to change the subject away from her past plight.

Kandase diid not immediatley answer. She kept her eyes peeled on the treeline. If there was a single leaf out of place, there was no doubt in Velvet's mind that she would see it. "I'm not sure. It's probably nothing. It's just...a feeling that I have."

"What feeling?" She inquired sincerely.

"I get these feelings . Normally when I get one of these feelings, things go to shit a little while after. That being said, I am just a tad bit concerned right now."

Vevlet was in no way satisfied by Kandase's answer. If anything, they only served to put her nerves further on edge. Vevlet caught herself watching the trees herself. Her ears began to twitch as she concentrated on finding out what noises she could hear that were out of the ordinary. Several minutes passed like this, with no fruit to show for their labors. Velvet wished later that she would have been able to say that about the entire day.

A screech resonated throughout the near vicinity, splitting Velvet's hearing for a moment. Her hearing was impaired during this time, and she quickly became concerned as she realized that she saw Kandase's mouth moving, but could not hear her. All that filled her head was a ringing. When it subsided, she could hear Kandase frantically shouting.

"Velvet, what is _wrong_ with you? We need to see what happened. Let's go!"

Without wasting time to form a response, Velvet nodded and took to following Kandase when she began running. She stayed alert, trying to locate the source of the shrieking that had pierced the air. Kandase must have caught on to what she was trying to do, because she asked upon the status of the agressor. Velvet responded in the negative, and Kandase only nodded. Several more seconds passed with such inquiries until another screech (a more appropriate word, Velvet thought later, would be 'roar'). They rounded a corner of a tent and caught sight of not one Grimm surrounded by a team of armed White Fang guards, but two. A duo of Beowulf, one an Alpha, had their backs to each other against the sea of Faunus enemies.

Velvet was silently taken aback by the sight, and was unsure how good she would hold up in a fight with professional killers of both man and Grimm. They had rifles poised and blades drawn, not waiting to form a plan before they attacked individually in vain. Velvet did not hesitate to attempt to prove herself to her new comrades, and slowly advanced behind the throes of guards.

"What the hell are you doing? Trying to serve yourselves up on a silver platter? Coordinate your attacks!" Kandace shouted out to her comrades. They looked back at her for a split second and nodded. "Tanks, charge up! Rifleman, give them covering fire! C'mon! We've trained for this!" She commanded. They followed her commands to a T, making the vision that she had come to life. Velvet was detached for a moment, taking in the natural leader that resided in Kandase. Her string of admiration was broken when Kandase turned to Velvet and took to giving her orders as well.

"Velvet! You really wanna prove yourself to this Brotherhood? Then show everyone here what you showed me yesterday."

Registering what it was that Kandase asked of her, Velvet drew from the power of the pack on her back, summoning a set of dual machetes. Unable to resist the urge to show off, Velvet flipped the blades in her hands. She was about to join the ranks of the other guards, when one of the Beowulf's large claws swiped the line of guards away. The Alpha behind it let out a loud roar and charged around in a circle, ceasing its assualt when it clutched a guard between its steely white jaws. Velvet let out a small gasp before charging head-on at the

beast.

As she had anticipated, The Alpha became aware of Velvet's advance and resolved to meet her halfway. Velvet, although fear spiked down the hairs of her spine, did not waver in her advance. She waited until the last possible second, then jumped into the air just as the Alpha dove towards her. It didn't take her opponent long to realize that she had gained a momentary tactical advantage and turned, aiming to even the playing field once more. Velvet landed in a crouching position, her blade tips pointed towards the Alpha. He snarled his teeth and charged once more.

Velvet corrected her stance and stood her ground. Once the Beowulf was within striking distance, she unleashed a flurry of strikes, alternating in even succession between each of her hands. After it was too late to correct it, Velvet realized that she had once again made the novice error of placing almost all of her energy into a single attack.She stepped at the base of the Beowulf's chest and, to her own surprise, kicked it hard enough to send it flying back into the trees behind it. Out of sheer luck, the trajectory of the Beowulf's regression placed it on a collison course with its subordinate, sending them both flying even further.

Before they were even finished with their journey, Kandase commanded the guards to finish the job. She bounded ahead over the path of destruction they had caused. Her small cloth pouch bounced against her wrist as she removed a single throwing knife and performed a front flip in the air. Kandase arched her back and threw the knife, aimed at the top of the downed Alpha's skull. Velvet watched in silent amazement as the small knife created a profound explosion that obliterated any trace of the Alpha, hardly any time given to allow the creature to dissolve. Its comrade mortally wounded, the tank guards wasted no time in slashing away at the remaining Beowulf's neck and head. They continued in this motion until the beast's cries were silenced, and it had begun its dissolution process.

Velvet laughed, just before her adrenaline wore off and she took a knee. She gasped to regain her energy while her comrades-in-arms celebrated their victory. Kandase was the only one who took note of Velvet's plight and rushed through the ranks to her position. Kandase called out Velvet's name, but Velvet couldn't find the energy to respond. Before she knew it, Velvet felt Kandase's arm go underneath her armpits and lift her upwards to her feet.

"That..." Kandase began, breathing to regain her own energy. "was pretty damn cool. It was ballsy, and just a bit stupid...okay, it was really stupid, but it paid off, so that makes your ballsy move just a little less chastise-worthy. So...I realize you have a little tendency of going all gung-ho badass, powering up your attack for one big strike, relying on your Semblance to do it, but it ends up screwing you in the long run. What do you say you and I work on that, huh?" She said, tightening her grip on Kandase in a great embrace. Velvet was too weak to fight, so she simply accepted it.

"Sounds...fine." She breathed.

At that moment, one of the guards walking past chortled while sheathing his blade. "Is that your protege? She looks like hell." He said. cackling as he tilted his head back. Velvet caught sight of Kandase scowl in the direction of this previously unknown guard. "The hell is that supposed to mean, Brunswick?" She shot accusingly.

"What I mean..." He continued with an air of cockiness. "Is that your protege isn't going to amount to crap if she's under your wing."

Kandase primed herself to clobber the guard named Brunswick, but Velvet had a primal feeling that this was her place to intervene. She struggled in vain in order to hold her back. All Velvet really managed to do was kick up dust. "Yeah. Look at that. How is she going to survive on any operation if she can't even stop _you?_ " This only served to fuel Kandase's hate fire, and she continued on.

"Kandase, he's not worth it. Sometimes, it's a better revenge to allow someone to live in ignorance rather than give them a reaction. Be the stronger one." With this, Kandase stopped cold in her tracks. She slowly looked back at Velvet with a distrusting gaze. Brunswick, likely seeing that his place in this fight was over, quipped a 'That's what I thought. Weak, like you taught your protege.'

Without so much as a glance at the reatreating Brunswick, she tightly gripped Velvet's wrist and ran her behind a tree. Once there, she slammed her into it, and pressed her face but inches from Velvet's. "You're going to start talking, and you're going to do it fast. Are you a spy? Are you one of those Atlesian creeps?" A small pause ensued before Velvet was slammed into the tree once more. " _Answer me, dammit!"_ She cried, not bothering to conceal her voice. As a result, one of the other guards walked by, asking for the state of Kandase. In return, she demanded that he go away and threw a knife into a nearby tree. The guard swore and retreated.

"There wasn't any reason. I'm not a spy. It's simply a phrase I picked up some time ago."

"Why? Why would you say it like that? Why would you say it like _she_ did?"

"Who are you talking about, Kandase?"

Rather than answer, Kandase began to cry uncontrollably, and placed her tearstained face into Velvet's shoulder.

"Youhad no right to do that."

Kandase pounded her fist into the tree, leaving a small crater in the bark.

"No Damn Right." She sobbed.


	15. Chapter 15

"Ok. So I suppose that there's an explanation in order for my little...outburst a while back."

Three weeks had passed since Kandase had cryptically thrown Velvet against a tree and accused her of being a spy. Out of kindness and respect to the woman that she was beginning to consider a friend, Velvet had since allowed the incident to go unchecked, to allow sleeping dogs to lie. There were obviously portions of her past that Kandase had understandably not revealed to Velvet, as she had done herself. In those three weeks, Kandase and Velvet had bonded by training. Kandase had helped Velvet to harness her power in a fashion that would make her a more efficient fighter and less of a burden in a combat scenario. Then, however, neither of them were assigned any particular responsibilites, so they found a decent shaded spot under a tree to take a break from training.

Velvet raised her hand up to the afternoon sun just before Kandase had begun to speak. She began to ponder her place in the world, whether she was making the right choices in her life, when her companion's voice broke her concentration. "Hmm? Well, I suppose if you see it fit to." She calmly replied, unsure how to respond at all.

"Well, It's necessary to me, especially considering how out of line that must have been to you, in retrospect. Where to begin, where to begin? Ah, I know just the place. Okay, well, you remember how I was talking about my parents and grandparents? Well, yeah. They were fighting on the wrong side of the whole thing, and, surprise surprise, it didn't end well for them. They were forced into hiding as a result, had to change their names and all. Even then, they decided it would be a gas to change their last name to a form of expression that _wasn't_ color. Seems a bit hypocritical, I know. I wasn't born yet, so don't hold it against me, alright? Okay, so where was I? Right. They came and went, and my mother met myfather and started the whole process over. Romantic, right? Well, I was born, and they started to indoctrinate me in the same damn business that was going on two generations before Me being a little kid, I didn't know any better, so I just went along with it. I watched as they joined up with some terror splinter cell, trying their best to be another version of the White Fang. As I got older, I saw that they were sloppy, disorganized. The higher-ups only _pretended_ to know what was going on within their ranks. It was probably easy enough for the Vale Police Force to slip a mole in without anyone giving him or her a second glance. I watched as, as anyone might have guessed, their plans went to crap fairly quick in a single raid. The group was never smart about evading capture, so they never thought to spread themselves out very far. That being said, they proved to be an easy group of incompetents to round up, with the exception of my father. We'll get to that later, though.

Now, what happened afterwards can be expected. The raid went off without a hitch... for the cops. The higher-ups locked themselves away and killed themselves. My mother stayed misguided until she couldn't anymore. From what I saw, she was clubbing at the Police, keeping them away from the office that housed the group's leaders. She kept doing it until she heard gunshots from inside the room. She dropped the club and lost all hope. That was the penultimate time I ever saw her. After the raid, I was put into a Foster Home. I was 17 then, mind you, so I wasn't there for long. As soon as I turned 18, I elected to leave the city. Before that, I wanted to see my mother one last time. The day we met, she was... well, a wreck. She hardly looked like the woman who raised me. I'll never forget what came after. She told me: 'Kandase. Listen to me. When you go out into the real world, don't make the same mistakes that I did on the outside.' I was confused, obviously. "What do you mean, Mom?"

"She tells me 'Don't put your faith in gods who aren't really gods. Don't stick your neck out for people who wouldn't do the same thing for you. Don't fight on the frontlines where you're nothing more than a pawn. Rise through the ranks. The real Wars are fought and won behind the scenes, with paper and ink. Battles are won with Blood and Bullets. Win the war for equality, Kandase. You're a smart girl. You know what to do." She clasped my hands in hers just before a guard told us our time was up. He shoved her away and I never saw her again. She died a week later, from what I don't know. All I know is that I took her words to heart. Weeks passed and I was right where you are now, not wanting to fight in the battles, but win the war. You get me, Velvet?" She asked, looking over to the girl she referred to.

"As odd as it sounds, I do. I have known many of our kind who have wanted to win the war for equality...not just battles. Sometimes, I think, deep down, I do, too."

Kandase nodded and looked up to the blue sky with eyes that conveyed her dreamlike state. Velvet admired how she had managed to retain her humanity amidst the adverse conditions that had plagued her life thus far. She arched her arms to position her hands and forearms behind her head.

The leaves fell all around them. It was as if, once again, the world had stopped to give her the rare moment of peace. Velvet savored it, for she knew not when she would get another like it. Her eyes began to close, and she pondered whether or not she would be able to sleep.

"And just what exactly is going on here?" A strange female voice called out from nearby.

Velvet heard Kandase groan loudly and utter a swear under her breath. "Not her again. I was just getting comfortable, too..." She trailed.

Velvet opened her eyes at this and rose to her feet, searching for the girl had addressed them. When she saw who it was, she was shocked to see that a girl who looked to be one or two years her junior was the one responsible for the scolding attempt.

The first thing that Velvet noticed was her eyes. They were a golden color that commanded attention away from their surroundings. She thought they were the most mesmerizing pair of eyes that she had ever seen, and that frightened her. Around her eyes were purple eyeshadow in catseye style and eyeliner, which further accentuated the need for Velvet to abdicate attention to all of her surroundings. Velvet's line of sight drifted upwards, and she saw that the girl possessed a pair of black cat ears almost identical in hue to that of her shoulder-length, disheveled hair. Her skin was almost as Velvet's before she needed to go on the run. Her wrists were covered with black wristbands, the one on her left extending up to just below her shoulder with a metal band over her bicep, likely to keep it in place. Her midsection was covered by a white, sleeveless crop undershirt, which was covered in itself by a black, laced vest that covered all of her torso, save for a small opening underneath the button of the vest that left the area around her navel exposed. Strapped to her back was what Velvet perceived to be a magnetic backpack which served as a receptacle for the girl's primary weapon. At the base of the weapon streamed a long, black bow that trailed down to a resting place adjacent to her thigh. Logically, Velvet followed the end of the bow to see the lower half of her agressor's attire.

Over the tights that covered a majority of her legs were a pair of white shorts with zippers over each leg(at least, that's what they appeared to be to Velvet.). The girl's tights were black around her thighs, melding into a deep fuschia near her ankles. Her feet were covered by buttoned high-heel boots that Velvet, admittedly, found very stylish. "Hey!" The girl cried out, placing one of her hands on her hips.

"What is it, kid?" Kandase groaned, mimicing the stranger's demeanor.

"What did you just call me?" She asked, taking a step towards Kandase.

"I believe," Kandase replied in a tone that could cut boulders. "that I called you a 'kid'. You know, kid, child, brat, pest. All of these work just fine in describing you."

At a loss, the stranger became flush with anger. "I am not a child." was all that she could manage to spit out. Velvet couldn't help but feel awkward with the fact that she was stuck in the metaphorical middle of these two, who were filled with more venom than any King Taijitu dispense.

"Really? Well, you could have fooled me. Perhaps you would like a more appropriate title. Does 'lackey' suit you better? Oh, I know. What about 'doxy'? 'Paramour'?"

The stranger gasped in shock. "How _dare_ you?" She exclaimed, arching her elbow in order to draw her weapon. Before any of them could even blink, Kandase drew one of her knives and held it close to the stranger's throat. At the same time, the stranger drew her own weapon, a katana with what appeared to be a pistol as the hilt, and pressed the tip against Kandase's abdomen.

"Now, now...let's not make a mess, huh? I'm sure Sourpuss wouldn't be too happy to find out one of his favorites went out like a dink, don't you?"

The girl's expression became one of defeat, anger, and shame as she avoided Kandase's gaze. "Just...get back to patrol."

Kandase chuckled a small bit, looking to Velvet for a reaction. When Velvet would give none, Kandase turned back to face the stranger. "Joke's on you, Blake. There's no patrol duty for us today."

"Well, then train." She further commanded.

"We just got done training." Kandace retorted.

The girl named Blake turned and furiously began walking from whence she came. "Well, do _something._ " She shouted after stopping to face Velvet and her companion. "The enemy is not sitting idly by, waiting for us to make our next move. If we simply lie down, then we're own making it easier to snuff out our flame! I suggest that _you_ learn that quickly." Blake said, pointing a finger towards Velvet. With that, she turned once more and walked out of sight.

Kandase turned to Velvet and began gesturing her hand in a motion that imitated someone speaking. "'Oh, I'm Blake. I'm the postergirl for the White Fang. Be a force of revolution. Fight the human oppressors. _Blehh!"_ She mocked, sticking her tongue out in the direction that Blake had disappeared to. "I can't stand her. Your run-of-the-mill, holier-than-thou fanatic who thinks that her way is best."

"I see. So she's a..." Velvet trailed, unsure what word to use. Kandase, as a result, filled in her own.

"It's like I said, she's a child. A child who thinks that she doesn't have any more growing up to do. Someone who's trying to be an adult way too fast. Only the gods know why someone would want to spend their childhood in a place like this."

In an attempt to deflect the conversation away from its current state, Velvet asked a new question to generate a new topic. "What was all of that stuff that you told her about Adam?"

Kandase looked blank for a second, then cocked her head back as she laughed heartily. "Oh, you heard that? I didn't think you could..." She trailed as her eyes fell on Velvet's ears. "Right. Well, that leads me back to my earlier point. She is a fanatic, and so is Ol' Sourpuss. The two of them go together like peas and carrots...just like all of the other girls here that Adam swoons with his smooth talk."

"I see...so she's not--"

"Not the only one, yeah. I almost feel bad for her about it. She can't see what's right in front of her. She probably won't until it's too late. But that's life, you know? Everyone has to go through their first heartbreak, and she won't be an exception." Kandase had taken on a sincere look as her head tilted towards the ground, and she remained silent for several seconds.

"Kandase. Perhaps we should train some more?" Velvet was sore, but she felt that such exercise was the best thing to take such somber topics off of her teacher's mind. With those words, the smile and glow returned to Kandase, and she turned to face her protege. She tilted herself and brushed a strand of hair off of her face. She calmly walked over and picked up her mask from the ground, clipping it to her side. She faced Velvet once more, putting her hands at her hips.

"You ready to get even more sore? Works for me." She said with a smirk. The two made the short trip to the clearing that they had been using as thier training ground. Once there, she assumed her fighting stance, prompting Velvet to do the same. "Why not start with a sparring match? Just to shake things up?" She joked, considering that was the first part of their morning ritual. "Show me what you've learned from you're supremely awesome teacher."

"Why not?" She said, taking it upon herself to run at Kandase before she did. Kandase laughed as she charged. They met in the middle and primed their initial attacks. That's when the screams and the gunfire began.


	16. The Velveteen Faunus: Chapter 16

Velvet and Kandase ran back into the encampment. Leaves fell upon her and around her. The two brushed branches out of the way, trying desperately to see what was going on within. Once they passed the walls of the compound, Velvet was horrified by the grisly scene that she saw.

Scores laid dead amidst the wreckage. Buildings lay in ruin, rubble having crushed poor, unfortunate souls around them. The once purple evening sky was covered by the pillowing black smoke that served a double purpose of Velvet's lungs. Her eyes stung immensely, but she did not get long to lament in her own ailments. She felt Kandase's massive hand grip her wrist and pull her into the hell that was once the head base of the Vale Branch of the White Fang.

"C'mon. We need to find Adam. Stay with me, Velvet. Something tells me that we're going to need to have each other's backs pretty soon." Kandase began bounding with Velvet in tow, struggling to keep from falling to the ground. "I don't understand. How did they get past our defenses? _Who_ even got past our defenses?" Kandase pulled out a Scroll from her pant waistline and extended it to its tablet setting, momentarily letting go of Velvet's wrist. She rang Adam, and after several of said rings, the device clicked to indicate the other party had responded. She did not wait for Adam to speak, but began to ask whatever was on her mind first in as calm a fashion as she could.

"Adam, what's going on? Who is attacking us? Where did they--?" Kandase was cut off by the appearance of an Atlas soldier who spotted the duo first. He raised his rifle, but before he could pull the trigger, Kandase swiftly drew her pouch of throwing knives. Without missing a beat, she dispensed a knife that landed square in the middle of the Atlesian soldier's visor. He slumped into the wall of the building that he had rounded, and fell to his side. She looked at her Scroll once more. Velvet was taken aback by the coldness of it all, a cold chill running down her spine.

"Never mind. That answered itself. What do we do?"

Adam's end was silent for several seconds as the two ducked into the battered building that the Atlesian had been killed outside of. Kandase ducked in a dark corner away from any of the windows, and instructed Velvet to do the same. The two hugged the walls while Kandase continued her conversation.

"You know what to do. Operate Contingency Plan Sigma. Make sure that there is nothing left standing or alive that could serve as a liability for our Organization. That is priority number one. Second objective is to retreat to rendevous point _Knucklevee_ once the first is complete. Eliminate as many of the enemy as possible. Make them regret the moment they thought attacking our borders would be wise."

"Understood. Kandase out." She closed her Scroll and replaced it in its original position in her pant waistline. "You heard him, Velvet. We're torching the place. Leave nothing standing for those damn Atlesians to find. There are others assigned to that, so all we need to do is provide support. You up for it? Good." She directed without giving Velvet a chance to answer. She began to run without a word, and Velvet followed.

The two traveled through the destruction, taking care to steer clear of any gunfire. "We can take care of them after the objective is complete." Kandase said to justify her aversion of the battles.

"Where are we going?" Velvet asked. She was interrupted as a group of White Fang members began to sprint ahead of them towards a building that was surprisingly intact. Kandase raised her hand and pointed towards their comrades. Velvet's eyes went from the group to an Atlesian gunship hover down and begin to rotate its cannon underneath. "It's going to fire! _Move!_ "

It was all for naught, however. Kandase threw Velvet to the ground, where she watched helplessly as the Faunus in front of her were torn to shreds.

"Oh, no. Those damned Atlesians. They're using Aura-Piercing rounds." She began to rise and lift Velvet up with her. "We need to get out of here. There's no way that our weapons can get through the armor of that thing." Kandase further deduced. Before the two had a chance to flee, the pilot of the gunship set its rotary cannon's sights on them. "Oh, hell. Move, move, move!" Kandase cried, despite the futility of their situation.

Velvet clearly understood this, and she elected to not run. _I won't run an_ y _more from these people. I won't let any one else die on my account._ She thought with a steel resolution. She firmly planted her and closed her eyes, concentrating all of her energy on her Semblance, as Kandase had trained her to.

"Velvet, what the hell are you doi--?" Her voice was cut off by the roar of gunfire from the ship. Velvet winced, fully aware of the chances that her plan would fail. Despite the odds against her, she opened her eyes to see that a Hard-Light Copy of a heavy plate of armor prevented the bullets from reaching them. To her surprise, the Hard-Light Copy held until the cannon stopped firing. Kandase withdrew one of her throwing knives and spun through the air, giving herself enough velocity to propel the knife far enough to reach the reinforced glass protecting the cockpit. Velvet watched in awe as, upon impact, the blade exploded, covering the cockpit in a thick sheet of ice.

Kandase tightly gripped Velvet's wrist and urged her behind the nearest building. They heard the noises of the gunship spinning uncontrollably, likely as the pilot attempted to regain his bearings. Velvet retreated from cover once more, summoning a Hard-Light Copy of a chained javelin. Kandase, without being asked, lifted Velvet with both hands from the waist and threw her towards the ship. Velvet sailed forward, calculated an optimal time for her next move, and threw the javelin. She landed on the palm of one of her hands and her feet, bent towards the ground. Velvet wasted no time in pulling on the chain.

Despite her best efforts, she was finding it extremely difficult to pull. She felt Kandase behind her, grabbing onto the Hard-Light chain as well. The two yanked, pulling the light with all of the power they could muster. Little by little, the Gunship began to sink lower to the ground. Velvet could sense the pilot panicking, because they began blindly firing their cannon at a target that they could not see. To their good fortune, the gunship was faced towards the nearby forest, sparing them of any possible danger.

After several seconds like this, their fruits paid off, and the nose of the gunship sank hard and deep into the ground. The two put their hands on their knees and breathed heavily. Velvet was unsure about Kandase, but she felt as if she would keel over any second, despite the immenint danger around them. As soon as this feeling hit her, the door to the cockpit of the gunship opened and a frantic pilot leaped out. She had a pistol drawn, ready to gun down whoever was within firing distance. Velvet could not see her eyes through the visor of the helmet, but it was without doubt that they were filled with appreshension. It didn't take her long to spot Kandase and Velvet, who had since uprighted themselves. She trained her pistol on them, alternating her sights on each of her targets.

"You--you wrecked my ship!" She cried out, her trigger finger itching. Velvet looked over to Kandase, who had taken on a stoic face. Over the course of the next altercation, Velvet kept her eyes peeled around them to ensure that some form of sneak attack or ambush wasn't being put into play.

"You murdered my friends." She said cooly. The pilot didn't take her eyes off of either of them, but slightly lowered her pistol.

"I was only following orders. No one would have died if that damned leader of yours would come quietly. They're all dead because of him."

Kandase remained cool, not even reaching for the knife pouch wrapped around her wrist.

"No," Velvet said. "They were acting in self-defense. Their blood is not only on his hands, but on yours as well." Her sudden surge of confidence amazed even her.

"You claim to be following orders. I'm doing the same. Now, if I were to wager, our orders would say that one of us is supposed to be dead by now. Yet, here we are. Why can't we both walk away, live to fight another few minutes? Why can't let ourselves dictate what's going to happen next, not some brass we've only met on a few occassions."

The pilot considered what Kandase said, then holstered her pistol. "Make no mistake. If any of my comrades see you, I won't stop them from killing you."

"I say the same to you. Don't expect the same kindness twice."

"Likewise." The Pilot said. She turned and jogged away from the scene. Kandase sighed and looked at Velvet with a coy smile.

"What's wrong?" Velvet said. Kandase shook her head.

"There was a damn good chance that that may not have worked. We could easily be dead right now if she was so adamant about following orders. Then again, I would have been able to kill her before she could hit both of us, so win-win...unless one of us died." Kandase was about to go on, nut Velvet put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's dangerous to put too much thought into the 'what-ifs'. No one had to die. Your plan worked. Take solace in that."

Kandase nodded, and suggested that they move before the wreckage was investigated. Velvet agreed and they began to run towards the camp's armory, the simulataneous location of all of the camp's munitions as well as their Dust supply. "Kandase. There's one thing I don't understand. If this is supposed to be a raid, why are they using such lethal measures? And why are the Atlesians _here?_ Shouldn't this be a matter for the Police?"

"Velvet, I don't think that woman was police. The Vale Police Force doesn't have that much firepower. This is probably one of the Task Forces that the VPF and the Military have put together. That ship was Atlas manufactured, but the pilot had Vale patches on her jumpsuit. I don't like any of this. Something isn't right." She stopped, and gasped. "I'll be damned. This isn't a regular raid. They're here for one person: Adam."

"That doesn't make sense. They wouldn't simply massacre us without justification." A pock of distant gunfire was reason enough to get them running once more.

"I'm not going to pretend like I have all the answers. All that matters is that we survive the night and do our jobs. This is looking bad, so we're going to the last resort to make sure that there is nothing left of this place for them to investigate." She crossed a dead guard and relieved him of his rifle. Velvet pondered why she acquired the weapon, but she did not need to wonder long.

They soon came across the desired location of the armory. Kandase and Velvet stopped several meters from it, crouched behind the torched wreckage of what Velvet thought was once a truck. Kandase looked through the scope of the rifle, likely formulating a plan of action in her mind. "I only get one shot. And I only need one." She whispered to herself. Kandase took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.

Velvet's eyes were good enough to follow the Dust Bullet all the way up until it shattered one of the windows of the armory and connected with the Dust inside. The deafening explosion made Velvet's ears ring once more, but she managed to cope better than she had with the Grimm cries. Her eyes were locked on the armory as the night sky was lit up with large explosions and flames. The sparks flittered onto the nearby roofs of the assorted tents and structures within the vicinity, and caused them to burst into flames as well. It was then that she heard the screams from inside the armory.

She watched as several people in White Fang garbs rushed out, flames burning through their Aura and their skin. "Crap! Why were they in there? They knew the plan!" Kandase cried out.

"We have to help them!" Velvet demanded.

"No! We need to retreat! They knew what was going on! If they got caught in the crossfire, that's on them!"

"Kandase! Those are people! Show some compassion!"

Kandase scowled, then looked down at the ground. "How are we supposed to help them? By the time we get over there, their Aura will be depleted and they'll be dead. What do you propose we do?" She asked incredulously.

Velvet took a deep breath, then turned to the people, formulating a plan. When such plan came to life, she wasted no time in summoning the Hard-Light Copy of the equipment of Tierra Acielo. She raised large mounds of earth and thrust them in a wave towards her ailing targets. She watched with silent satisfaction as the fires just short of the armory were put out.

"Ok. We need to leave. C'mon, Velvet!" Kandase began to grab for Velvet's wrist when a bullet struck her in the shoulder, causing her Aura to pulsate.

"Freeze!" A Vale Police officer in tactical clothing shakily, his face covered in a mask, rifle bouncing up and down in his hands. It was obvious to Velvet that he was as afraid as she was. She jumped at the combined sound of his voice and the danger posed to her friend. She stuck out her hand in defense. He turned towards Velvet and took aim. She summoned one of Kandase's throwing knives and propelled it full-force into his chest.

The Police Officer groaned and fell to the ground. Velvet made to ensure his safety, but Kandase pulled her away once more.

"We have to go, Velvet. We have to go now."

"But--"

"Don't beat yourself up about it. You did what had to be done."

Velvet couldn't help but feel dirty. She broke away, to Kandase's dismay, and checked the status of the Police Officer. On her knees, she gasped with shock as she came to the conclusion that he was in fact alive , as she had secretly hoped.

She slowly removed the mask with one hand while his chest shook under her other. She slowly peeled back the mask, first revealing a mouth that trailed blood. Finally, she fully removed the mask. Upon seeing who it was, Velvet retracted her hands, covering her gasp.

"Hansel." She whispered.

Hansel gave her a strange look, as if he had never seen her before. "I...thought you were... oh, Hansel. I'm so sorry. I never meant for that to happen. I didn't mean to do it. "

He extended his gloved hand, trying to touch Velvet's face. She bent downward, reaching for his outstretched hand. She gripped it tightly. "Hansel. I...I wanted to tell you that--" All of a sudden, Hansel's blood spurted over her clothing and hands. He fell limp, his hand loose in hers. His eyes rolled back as a pool of blood formed underneath him.

Velvet looked back to see Kandase, slumped against a building, rifle held by her uninjured arm(so to speak. Her golden Aura took the brunt of the bullet, much like a vest). She winced in pain, likely recovering from the rifle recoil, and dropped it as a result.

"What... What have you _done?!_ " Velvet cried out.

"He was going to kill you, Velvet. " She said matter-of-factly through clenched teeth.

"No. That's...not true. Hansel wouldn't. Not again." Velvet looked down once more to see that the man she was kneeling over was not her companion. His eyes were cold and dark, his hair a disheveled red, his face more rounded.

Velvet looked down at her hands and clothes, covered in blood. _Just like that night._ She looked back and saw Hansel once more. She quickly backed away, looking in horror at the realistic illusion.

"No, no, no. Not again." She covered her eyes to block the traumatic image. "You can't die twice. That's not possible, Hansel. I can't be responsible for your dying twice. Not again. Not again. Not again." Tears flowing from her face, she refused to move, even after she felt Kandase push her.

"Velvet. The fire is spreading. We need to go, or we'll be caught in it."

"Not again. Not again. Not again." Velvet sobbed, remaining immobile.

"Velvet!"

"Not again. Not again. _Not Again!_ " She shrieked.

She heard Kandase swear under her breath, then sigh. "I'm sorry, Velvet."

Expecting a genuine apology, Velvet looked up to see Kandase brandishing the rifle in one hand like a club. The last thing Velvet saw was the butt of the gun before she felt a sharp pain and lost consciousness.


	17. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 17

Velvet awoke with a start. She was back in her bed in Valkryite. Confused, she quickly rose and began walking about. She was attired in her old sleepwear, and her hair was a disheveled mess.

 _How did I get back here? Did Kandase find out who I really was and take me home? Does that mean that my family knows what I've done?_ Velvet walked over to her bedroom door and opened it. The house, like the world outside, was deathly silent. This spiked her anxiety, and she proceeded with caution into the adjoining hallway That led to the living room and kitchen. She stepped lightly on the balls of her feet in order to generate as little sound as possible.

Making little progress over a long period, she finally reached the end of the hall. She saw her mother watching the television, her back to Velvet. Her brother was seated next to her, his hands in his lap. Velvet then saw Ein, lying on his side next to the front door. Velvet took a deep breath, then advanced on them.

"I... I don't know what I can possibly say to apologize for the mess that I made of things. I'm sorry for any pain that I may have caused you over the past few months. Any chastising or resentment that you wish to express will certainly be welcomed. I know that I deserve it."

Her family did not respond. Initially hurt, Velvet understood her family's response.

 _You_ did _hurt them badly, Velvet. It makes sense that they wouldn't want to reconcile with you right away._ The program that her family was watching quickly changed to a news bulletin about her. She gasped as a picture of her came on screen, the reporter keeping a stern expression as she spoke of the horrible misdeeds Velvet had done.

 _"Police and Kingdom officials are still on the hunt for now-notorious fugitive Velvet Scarlatina. A Valkryite native, she was spotted by several witnesses as attempting to murder the wife of a High-ranking Mistral official. She fled the scene with a Hansel whom she later murdered during a standoff with authorities. Scarlatina has terrorized the Kingdom of Vale, spotted in several homes and villages breaking and entering, looting, and disturbing the peace. As the pressure mounts to capture this elusive terrorist, police are urging citizens to continue sending in tips and sightings to their various hotlines across the Kingdom. Should you come across Velvet Scarlatina, authorities express that you do not approach her. She is a skilled fighter with heightened training, as well as possessing an especially deadly Semblance. If you spot her, call this number displayed onscreen."_ Velvet's eyes darted downwards as her eyes met the flashing number. She felt the sudden urge to vomit, but restrained herself, swallowing the bile instead.

 _"And now we go to Rosalind Pinkerton for Sports."_ The screen shut off by a hand unseen by Velvet. She peered aroind the corner just enough to see who had committed the action. It was there, in the corner of the room, that she saw a man she recognized to be Hansel's father standing on the wall opposite of her.

His hair was a stringy blonde, receding from the front and extending to his shoulders. He was a masculine man, his muscles rippling underneath the worn tunic he donned. His legs were covered with a set of mustard yellow tights that looked as if they had not been washed in ages.

"Did you hear that? Did you hear what she did to my boy? _All he wanted_ was to help your filthy Faunus girl, and look where it got him. You people are nothing but trouble. Aren't they, Velvet?"

Before Velvet could react, he removed his Bagh Nakh, a set of brass knuckles with spikes at the tips, and clutched her mother's throat. She heard her brother's frantic cry as he attempted to protect his mother and was slammed to the floor. Ein rushed in to assist, and was slashed across the side as a reward for his efforts. Velvet cried out and Dove over her brother to help. He moved to slam his weapon into his mother's chest, but altered his trajectory to run Velvet through.

She gasped,looking down at her wound. Her abdomen was beginning to soak with blood, and all she could do was watch as her assailant lifted her into the air. Velvet felt her head tilted upwards, so that she was forced to look into the eyes of her attacker. He leaned in, so close that she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Know this, _little girl_ ," He whispered, "The pain you feel now isn't even half of the pain you've caused all of those around. Your family, Coco, Hansel, all are worse off than they would've been if they had never crossed paths with you. Let me ask you this: are you worth the trouble?"

Hansel's father tilted her body downward, sliding his weapon out of her. It was an odd sensation, feeling the cold steel invade and leave her body. She heard her mother's piercing scream as she fell to the floor in slow motion.

When her body hit, Velvet awoke with a start, in a cold sweat. She frantically looked around at her surroundings, unsure if what she was seeing was real. She was in a small tent, covered with an itchy, teal blanket. She quickly flipped over the blanket off of her and lifted her shirt to examine her abdomen.

Velvet ran her hand across that area of her body, relieved to feel nothing more than her own sweat. She took a deep breath, coming to the realization that what she had experienced was nothing more than a dream. The second thing that she felt was an intense aching in her head. A quick recollection of earlier events made it apparent to Velvet why she felt the way she did, and she grimaced with said recollection.

She rose, and crawled out of the tent. The first person she saw was Kandase, directing a White Fang member who was lugging around a crate. "Make sure this goes over there next to those other crates. Got it?" The guard nodded and grunted, slowly walking over to the area that Kandase had directed.

Her head turned and she looked to Velvet. Her expression brightened and she wasted no time in embracing her. Velvet felt reassured, then immediately guilty when she became aware of what she forced Kandase to do as a result of her psychotic break.

Kandase didn't seem to mind, however. She held Velvet in a bear hug for what seemed like ages before letting go. "How do you feel?" She asked, pushing Velvet away at arm's length so she could properly look into her eyes while she talked to her.

Velvet awkwardly chuckled, brushing her hair back as she looked down at her feet. "I have a major headache." Kandase chortled and wrapped Velvet into a bear hug once more.

Velvet gasped for breath, but she didn't object to the expression of affection. "Well, I wonder why. I wasn't sure what to do after your freakout. Sorry, but there was nothing else That I could think to do. I tried restraining myself, at least. Practice what you preach, yeah?" Kandase said, retracting once more and rubbing the back of her neck with an awkward chuckle that would have been inaudible to a Faunus.

Kandase's attention was then turned to the White Fang member she had instructed earlier, crate still in hand. He was getting set to place it in the spot Kandase had instructed. "Hey, Genius! What do you think you're doing? Put over _there!"_ She demanded, pointing in a direction opposite where she had directed before.

The member groaned, then raised the crate once more. He turned to move it to the New location that Kandase had instructed. Kandase herself turned to face Velvet once more. "So what happened back there?"

"What do you mean?" Velvet said, wanting to avoid the Goliath in the room at all costs. She knew such evasive tactics would not work with Kandase, but didn't see the harm in trying anyway. This was rewarded with a hard jab in the shoulder, the force of which made Velvet take a step back to keep from falling.

"Don't you play dumb with me, Velvet Scarlatina. I know what I saw. You almost getting wasted by a cop who was _literally_ on his deathbed. You owe me an explanation." Kandase said semi-jokingly, taking a step back herself to cross her arms and cock her head.

Velvet sighed. She felt that there was never going to be a good time to discuss this with Kandase, only times that were less bad than others. _I suppose that this is one of those times._

"It's just that... I saw someone when I pulled up that mask."

"Yeah. That's how masks work. They have to be worn." Kandase observed Facetiously.

Velvet scowled at Kandase, who put her hands up defensively. "Too soon. Sorry. "

"As I was saying, I saw someone under that mask. Someone from my past. He was... " Velvet trailed, trying her best to perfectly phrase her next choice of words. When no such combination came, she decided to be be out with it, no matter how blunt. "Kandase, have you ever killed someone?"

Kandase looked to the ground, then off to the distance into the treeline. Her arms went limp, thumbs digging into her pantline. "Why do you ask?"

Velvet put her hands down as well, running them slowly up and down the length of her thighs as she struggled to formulate her next sentence. Once again, no magical phrase came. "Well, it's because... this person I saw. He was... the first person that I ever killed. The prospect of being responsible for another death. I... couldn't handle it."

Kandase nodded, looking at Velvet with somber eyes. "I thought so. I could recognize that look from anywhere."

Velvet was taken aback momentarily. "H-How?"

Another pause from Kandase. Once again, she broke her gaze from Velvet before continuing. "Because I've had that look myself. I'm so familiar with where you are because I've been there. I'm not sure about anyone else here, but I don't think I could forget how that feels, how any of that feels."

Velvet was unsure if she should have pressed further into the matter, but Kandase made that decision herself. "I was 13. It was the night of my initiation into that group I was telling you about. The disorganized one that my parents worshipped. Well, as I told you, they impressed that lifestyle on me, and didn't much care for my input. My father had been tasked with putting me through the initiation. He neglected to tell me just what it was that I would have to do. I wouldn't know until we were outside the doors of one of the largest SDC warehouses in the Four Kingdoms. 'Now, Kandi,' He said in the sweetest voice he'd ever used with me, 'tonight is the night that you get to prove to the world just what it is you're capable of contributing to the group.' I asked him what he needed me to do, and he _laughed_ at me. 'Well, honey, you're going to break in and find where they keep the manifests of all the Dust shipments coming through this place. That way, we can see just where we need to send our groups for... stocking up.' From the way he made it seem, I was going into his office to find some files he'd left. It sickened me, but I wanted to make my father proud, and be damned if my kid mind didn't see this as the way to do it. He handed me a gun, telling me to use it if I ran into any trouble. I picked the side door pretty easily (it was a knack of mine, and my father knew it.) and slipped inside. I didn't need to turn on the lights, thanks to my night vision. It wasn't hard to find the office without a map of the place inside, and I picked the lock there as well. After a few minutes, I found the stuff that my father was looking for. I walked out of the office, back the way I came, and was set to present them. That's when I heard the unfamiliar voice. Someone was outside with my father. I drew the pistol, even though I was in no way prepared to use it. I stepped out, the nightwatchman's back to me with a gun trained on my My father eyed me, attracting the attention of the nightwatchman's gaze. He turned, his trigger finger itching.

'Now, Kandase! Now!' I panicked, and closed my eyes. I squeezed the trigger until the weapon clicked empty. When I opened my eyes, I made the mistake of looking into the eyes of the watchman. He looked down as his hands were struggling to his insides, well... inside. He looked at me, then fell to his knees. He stretched out one of his hands, as if begging for mercy. I did what you did. I grabbed it, and I apologized, as if that would make everything better. He collapsed onto me. I'll never forget how dirty I felt with another person's blood on me. My father bragged about me, started calling me 'Daddy's Little Killer'. I hated him for that. I thought that was the only time I'd ever have to do it. I was a stupid kid then. I had yet to understand how the world worked. Despite that, I could never get that watchman's face out of my head. Sometimes I still have nightmares over it. So... yeah. To answer your question, I have killed before. I've done it and, even though I never want to go it again, I know that killing is inevitable in this life."

Velvet couldn't help to ask the obvious question of what was keeping Kandase from simply leaving. "There's still work to be done for me here, Velvet. There're still things I have to take care that won't get done if I'm not here to do them."

Although she didn't completely understand, Velvet nodded and walked over, offering a consoling hand on the shoulder for her friend. Kandase smiled, but the feeling was short lived.

"Hey, moron. What are you doing? That crate goes over _there._ What are we keeping you for if you can't even move a box? " Adam shouted at the White Fang member that Kandase had been directing earlier, pointing at the first place that Kandase had instructed to the member. He groaned, and hefted the crate once more to its original place.

He then turned to Kandase and Velvet, approaching them slowly. Velvet still felt pangs of anger and fear when near Adam, but she didn't show it. "You two, I need you in the HQ tent. We're going to execute our next move, and you two are going to help spearhead the operation."

Kandase placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, yeah? If I may ask, Brother Adam, what exactly is this operation?" Velvet was surprised by Kandase's use of Adam's formal title.

Adam offered only what Velvet couldn't see as anything more than a malicious smirk. "I'm glad you asked, Sister Kandase. We're going to hijack a train full of Dust."


	18. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 18

"Are you kidding me? That's beyond insane! We'd all die before we could even sneak off with a single crystal!" Kandase cried out, slamming her closed fist onto the table and map in front of her.

"Hey! Watch what you say to Brother Adam!" Blake countered, pointing an accusatory finger at Kandase. Kandase didn't even reply. Instead, she kept her eyes on Adam.

"What does _she_ have to do with this? Surely, we have no use for _chil_ _dren_ who run the risk of compromising the entire operation!" Kandase loudly inquired.

"Sister Blake is a vital part of the operati _o_ n. I can vouch for her ability to execute this without flaw, as I am granting with the _other_ child in the room." Adam said, turning his head towards Velvet. She immediatley felt self-conciousand lowered her head, glazing her eyes on the intricate map and table in front of them.

The map sat on an old oak table, worn from what Velvet was sure were decades of use. Her eyes studied the map, which she realized was a diagram of the geographic layout of the nearby forest of Forever Fall. The map looked to be as worn as the table itself, torn at the edges, seams from constant folding evident down the middle of the paper. At the center of the map was a hole that was about an inch big. On the map were several markings in red, indicating the planned movements of a Schnee Dust Company train through the forest on a frequented, but isolated, railway. Times were written down to inform the reader of how long it would take the train to reach particular points of interest.

"How long have you been planning this?" Velvet asked absentmindedly. Once she realized that she had spoken aloud, she felt the stinging of all eyes on her.

"That information is of no importance to you. Any more outbursts like that, and I may just be so inclined to choose someone else for this job. Do I make myself clear?" Adam said, gritting his teeth halfway through. Velvet nodded, then decided it wise to take her attention off of the map and study something else. Her eyes then fell on the intricacies of the table.

There were assorted knicks and cuts all over its dark, burgundy surface. It was supported by four rickety legs that looked to have seen their best days. At some point in time, someone had decided to engrave their own swirled designs into the legs, and, in Velvet's opinion, had done a horrible job of it. Regardless, it still appeared to be the most tasteful thing with them in that cramped, eggshell white tent.

"Alright, Adam. How are we getting about doing this?" Kandase asked, putting her palms on the map, bending down.

"Since the Grimm population around the old Home Base is too concentrated for a salvage mission, we're in dire need of

Dust to ensure that business continues as usual.This will be a two-pronged operation. You and your...protege are up first. Your responsibility will be getting into the train and incapacitating whoever is behind the wheel. After that, you'll find a way to disable whatever automated sentries they're bound to have on board. You'll have approximatley 8 minutes to accomplish this before Blake and make our insertion near the rear. Afterwards, you're to hold your position in the front car until we come. If we don't come at all, you're responsible for making off with whatever Dust possible and putting the contingency plan in action."

Kandase sternly looked to the map, nodding intently. Velvet watched her, unsure what said contingency plan was. Blake wondered by the same thing, as evidenced by her asking of such a subject. All that Adam did in reply was put his arm around her and softly shush. "All in good time, my darling. The greatest things come to those who wait for them." Blake seemed to try to interpret his words, then nodded and smiled, though the smile was a thin veil for her concern. Velvet eyed the girl warily, slowly becoming more and more sure that the young girl was not entirely aware of what was at play here, but merely pretending.

"Kandase, you and your protege will leap from a cliff at these coordinates onto the roof of the engine. You won't have long to get inside and maintain the element of surprise, so dealing with whoever is inside quickly is a must. This operation is extremely time-sensitive. We won't have another chance like this should we fail, so we _are_ going to complete it the first time. Am I understood?" Everyone in the room nodded. Velvet kept her head ducked down so as to not attract any unwanted attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Kandase merely grunted and crossed her arms, as if she was uncertain about something concerning the plan. Velvet decided then that she would discuss it later with her in privacy. For the time being, she would keep her tongue in check. "Good. The operation will commence at dawn tomorrow. Until then, rest and don't do anything strenous. You're no good to us if you can't even move." Adam walked past Velvet towards the entrance of the tent. Both offered glaring looks that, once again, Velvet only caught in passing. Once they were both gone, Kandase walked out, prompting Velvet to follow. The two exited, the bright sun battered down on their adjusting vision. Kandase sighed, putting her hands on her head.

"What's on your mind?" Velvet asked.

"I'm not sure. I just have another bad feeling, like the one before."

"You weren't wrong before." Velvet observed with a grimace.

"I know. That's the part that scares me the most."

The two nodded and parted ways, going off to their respective tents. Velvet was still extremely sore, and wanted nothing more than her mission than to sleep. She opened the entrance of the tent and crawled onto the floor of the tent. She remained dressed, and covered herself with the sheet that was in there with her.

For the next few minutes that passed, Velvet tossed and turned in her tent. She was unsure why, but something was irking her. Something aside from the mission was on her mind, and she couldn't quite place what it was. It remained so for several hours.

Finally, she gave up on sleeping and simply stared up at the roof of the tent. Her mind went blank, and she listened intently to the world around her. The birds chirped as if all in the world was right. The bustle of the crowd threatened to drown out the serenity, but, miraculously, failed to. It was a small miracle that she was grateful for. This was one of the few times that she longed for the world to wash away.

In this silence, Velvet thought to an earlier dream that her father had appeared to her in. She recalled the words that he had told her in that dream. In the silence, she began to allow those resounding words pass her lips in a voice just beyond a whisper.

"I don't know what to tell you to do about your problem. I understand that it's all just one bad thing topped against another, and the world is literally against you. All I can tell you is to make sure that you do what feels right in your heart, and not willingly go down the wrong path like Neo did. Promise me that much, Velvet. Because there's so much that you're still destined to do.

"Destined, Father? Destined how?"

"It will all make itself clear in time, my dear. Promise me you won't stray."

"I promise."

"Follow your heart, and you will never be wrong, no matter how bad the consequences. Your heart is not wrong, only the situations around it. Never forget that."

"I wont, Father."

It was then that Zandu told Velvet the one thing that he wanted to tell her one last time.

"I love you, Velvet."

Velvet put her hand to her face and realized that she was crying like she was the first time that she experienced that moment. She wiped her cheeks in the unlikely event that someone would walk in on her, and put her hands behind her head.

 _Have I failed him? Wasn't this exactly what he told me_ not _to do? I have strayed, run the risk of corrupting who I am. And for what? To preserve my own existence? What good is that if I can't even savor the time that being here has bought me? What's the point of all this if Iose sight of who I am in the process?_

It was then that Velvet came to a conclusion that had been sneaking around in her mind for quite some time.

 _I need to get out of here. If not, I am going to die, one way or the other a thousand times over. These people aren't me. I can't follow their ideals. I was raised better. Father would not tolerate me being here, and neither should I._

Velvet's train of thought was broken by the sound of Kandase calling her name outside. She rose to a crouch and slunk out of the tent to meet the night air. She rose to meet her friend, where she was presented with the standard masks that all members of the White Fang. Velvet gasped and looked into her friend's eyes. "You earned it, Velvet. Since this is your first operation, we can't have someone seeing your identity. Do you know the stories of why these masks are the way they are?" Velvet shook her head in the negative. "I thought not. Not a whole lot of people outside the Fang do. Well, as obvious as it seems, I should probably start by pointing out that they're Grimm masks. The why is short and sweet: The higher-ups and their buddies treated us like we were subhuman trash, monsters who should be cast aside, and these masks helped us became just that. Why not prove them right if it means we get a little respect for a change?"

Velvet fought the urge to correct Kandase's misguided views, but she knew that now was not the time to debate over ethics with her. They had a job to do, and she knew that any negative feelings towards her would compromise their side of the operation. Even if she didn't agree, Velvet would do her part to ensure that there would be no more death as a direct result of her.

Kandase placed the mask in her hand and placed her own on her face. "Try it on." She said with a smile.

Velvet took a small deep breath and placed the mask to her face, adjusting it to her liking. The first aspect that she noticed was that her view of her surroundings was considerably narrowed, causing her to rely more upon her hearing and nerves and what she perceived in her mind. _How poetic._ She thought. "It's... different." Velvet observed, trying her best to remain optimistic and not disappoint Kandase.

"Don't worry. After a while, you'll get used to how it feels on you. After a while, you'll forget it's even on you. It'll feel totally natural."

Velvet feigned a smile, but she was screaming internally. _None of this feels natural._ She prayed she didn't stay long enough to have it feel as such.

"Well. I suppose you're going to need some of the proper garb as well if you're gonna fit in with the cool kids. I made sure to slip a set of unused unison the way out of Home Base." She joked. She pulled Velvet by the wrist to her tent. Once there, Kandase leaned into the tent and swiftly threw the fabled clothing at Velvet.

She gripped it in her hands, looking on intently at the telltale insignia of the White Fang on the back of the White vest. Her brain knew that this wasn't right, but she forced herself to retreat to her tent and change into the uniform. Minutes later, she met with Kandase once more. Kandase placed a hand on her shoulder, as she was prone to do.

"Welcome to the Brotherhood, Sister Velvet."


	19. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 19

Kandase and Velvet laid prone on their bellies, the only sound filling the air at the moment being the gentle breeze and the birds chirping nearby. Kandase extended her open hand to Velvet, who looked over to fill her gaze with a small black earpiece that she produced from a grey backpack strapped to her back. "Here. Stuff it in... " Kandase raised her eyes to Velvet's ears, grunting. "Right. I'll be our ears in the long range department. How 'bout it?" She offered, awkwardly chuckle.

Velvet laughed and looked back down the railway from their perch as Kandase slipped the earpiece in her ear. Velvet, while Kandase tested the piece, studied how their line of sight on their target was to be blocked until it made a round on the far bend of the tracks. A considerable distance from them, their line of sight would allow Kandase and herself ample warning and time to put their assault in order. "Testing. 1,2,3. You there, Sourpuss? Hey, hey. You _did_ say codenames. Now, there's no need for that sort of language. There's children present. OK, _fine._ Back to business." She looked over at Velvet, smiling at her own perceived cleverness. "We're keeping our eyes peeled. Not sure why, though. Even if we didn't have all the extra features of Fauna folk, it'd still be pretty damn hard to miss a train flying down the railway. Have a little faith, will you? We won't disappoint. Rabbit snare, out."

Velvet cocked her head, alternating her gaze from the railway to Kandase. "Rabbit Snare? What's that?"

A coy smile came to Kandase's lips as she met Velvet's eyes. "We needed a callsign. That was the first thing that came to mind when we were trying to come up with them. Not the best one, but we weren't exactly worried about names. You're just going to have to deal with it." She said with a snicker.

Kandase broke the gaze and continued eyeing the railway. She rapped her fingertips on the ground, obviously distressed by the long wait. Velvet remained silent, the anxiety building in her as a silent killer, as opposed to a more voiced one. She wanted to voice her concerns, but she feared of only heightening the apprehension within her partner. To prevent this, Velvet remained quiet.

She both eagerly awaited and dreaded the sound of the incoming train. Velvet felt the need to prove herself and protect Kandase, but she knew that involving herself in this may lead to an early demise as a combined result of her foolish desire to aid others as well as her primal need to do whatever was necessary to prolong her own existence. She saw no other way that presented itself to her other than to play along and do as they asked of her, with minimal dematerialization of her moral being.

She dug at the dirt underneath her, finding a red flower petal to press between her fingers. There was no other thing that she could do that could effectively take her mind off of the task at hand. She did not have long to avoid the task however. Far off, but within her earshot, a train horn cried out, shattering the peace of the forest of Forever Fall. Her ears flickered, and her eyes narrowed.

"Kandase... " She began.

"Don't worry. I heard it, too."

She pressed the earpiece into her ear, not taking her eyes off of the railroad. Velvet did the same, her heart beginning to race even more furious than before. "Hunter, this is Rabbit Snare. We have auditory confirmation on target. Hold for visual."

The next few seconds that passed were some of the most tense that Velvet had been through in recent history. She didn't let it project, but her body began to shiver for reasons unknown to her. Despite her attempts to hide her rising trepidation, Kandase reached over and tightly gripped Velvet's hand. "Velvet. I'm as scared as you are. I'll make you a promise, okay? I'll protect you as long as you protect me. As long as we're breathing and we're together, I think it's safe to say that I'm a little less afraid than usual. We'll make it through this... together. "

Kandase looked set to go on, but the appearance of the train rounding the track instantly silenced her voice. She gripped Velvet's hand even tighter for a few more seconds, then retracted as she rose into a crouching position. She moved away from the edge of the cliff, silently urging Velvet to do the same. She mimicked Kandase's actions, being sure to maintain their stealth and, consequentially, the element of their surprise. "Hunter, this is Rabbit Snare. We have visual. Proceeding to commence Operation." Kandase looked over to Velvet with her signature beaming smile. "Hey. We're both coming back from this. Got it? I'll kill you if you die on me, Velvet." She said with a lighthearted air.

"Likewise." Velvet said, trying to add in to the fun that served as an anesthetic to the pulses of stress and anxiety flowing through her.

Kandase broke her gaze, looking over to the train. They would be on top of their target in but mere seconds. The two lurched forward, leaning over the edge. "Kandase?" Velvet whispered.

"Yeah?" She briskly replied.

"Let's not hurt them anymore than we need to."

Kandase and Velvet stood, taking several steps back in unison to obtain a running start. They looked at each other once more. "You know my rule, Velvet. I'll treat them with the as much respect as they give me."

Velvet sighed, this not being the answer she wanted to hear, but the one she had expected. She nodded, Kandase doing likewise. They both looked forward, prepping themselves to run.

"1...2...3!" Kandase loudly whispered. At the end of the counting. They ran towards the edge of the cliff. At the very edge, Velvet dug the arches of her feet into the earth and leaped forward as hard as she could. She kept her eyes lowered as she came over the train. A small fear of missing her target and falling in some other undesirable place (be that over the train or, she thought with a mental shudder, under), but she quickly put those thoughts to the back of her mind.

As soon as she planted her feet on the rounded roof of the engine, she swiftly summoned a Hard-Light Copy of a Katana and slammed it into the metal in front of her. Once she was secure, she looked to see that Kandase had performed a similar action with one of her throwing knives.

The two locked eyes. Kandase nodded, and Velvet knew she need say no more. Her blade disappeared before her eyes, and she rolled off of the side of the train. She located the railing above the window to the engine, and grabbed on tightly. She positioned herself over the window when gunshots whizzed past her. Velvet released the grip on her left hand to avoid the bullets flying.

Velvet planted her feet on the engine wall, waiting for the right moment to strike. She held her position until, as she predicted, the gunman leaned outwards to ascertain Velvet's status. Velvet quickly slid across the railing and slammed her full body weight into the gunman's chest. She flew into the train, and rolled on the floor until she was on her knees.

She immediately was forced to bend backwards to avoid being beheaded by a second attacker. He was a greasy, balding man in striped blue overalls with a rusty machete in hand. His eyes were beady as they looked over Velvet. He looked her down as he raised his blade to bring it down her center.

Kandase rolled in through the window opposite Velvet as the engineer brought down his blade. Impulsively, Velvet slapped her hands against the flat edges, stopping it dead in its tracks. Velvet slid back and planted her feet once more in the gunman's portly abdomen, kicking him clear across the small space into the controls.

His back pushed the throttle forward, sending everyone flying to onto their backs. Velvet and Kandase quickly recovered. The gunman, a lanky man with silver hair, blindly fired at Velvet, not taking the time to aim. She slammed his wrist into a nearby bar, throwing her free hand into the bridge of his nose. As he gripped, Velvet slapped her hands over his ears as hard as she could. He crumpled to the floor, garnering the attention of the second occupant in the engine. The portly man raised his blade once more.

Kandase pulled his arm behind him and pushed down on the joint between his bicep and forearm. Although she didn't hear a snap, Velvet shuddered as she watched the engineer cry out and contort his face in pain. She turned when she heard her own opponent grunt as he tried rising to his feet.

Velvet backed away, hoping that he would stay down. Their eyes met, his full of rage. Rather than raise his gun, he turned his head towards the assorted switches and dials at the front of the engine. Among them was a radio in a charging port. Velvet looked as well, knowing fully well what she intended to do. He moved to grab it when, from seemingly out of nowhere, the other engineer slammed onto the dials, knocking the radio out of the port and onto the floor.

The other engineer dove for it, clutching it as he landed on his stomach. He slid towards Velvet's feet. "Hey. We need you. There's--" Velvet swiftly silenced him by attempting to kick the radio out of his hand. The engineer anticipated the move, moving the radio away from her line of attack. Because of this, Kandase's foot landed square over the engineer's nose.

His head buckled back, the force of the attack rolling him onto his back where he lay unconcious. "Kandase. He called for help."

Kandase swore under her breath. She briskly looked out the closest window of the engine to see an adjacent pond ,hefting her heavy adversary over the edge and out the window, ending with a splash.

"Get ready, Velvet. It's about to get loud in here." A loud thump at the door at the rear of the engine attracted both of their attention. The door appeared to be locked from the inside, as evidenced from the frantic rattling of the door.

"Jin? Arat? Open up, guys." A young female voice pleaded from the other side. Kandase and Velvet looked at each other as the pleads went on from the other side. When they ceased, Velvet recognized the distinct sound of a weapon being loaded from the other side of the door.

"Kandase, down!" The two Dove to the floor as far away from the door as possible without letting themselves off of the train. A gunshot rang out as the door handle was obliterated by a single shotgun blast. Kandase and Velvet quickly rose to their feet to meet three more crew members. The first to enter possessed a shotgun in hand, intently checking her corners and laying her sights on Velvet. The two behind her carried large black batons, forming a V as a whole.

One of the baton-wielders advanced towards Kandase while the other stayed to support his heavily armed partner.

Oblivious to this, the woman did not hesitate to pull the trigger upon spotting Velvet. Velvet slapped the barrel of the gun away from her with an open palm, sending the blast into the panel in front of the engine. Several red lights began flashing around the room. Momentarily disoriented, the woman raised her rifle to fire once more. Velvet used her opposite hand to deflect the shot, sending the next barrage of pellets into the wall mere inches from her shoulder.

Velvet tightly gripped the barrel of the shotgun, thrusting it towards herself then tilting it so she could slam it into her attacker's chest. She coughed as she was knocked off-balance. Her comrade who had not occupied himself with attempted to cut Velvet with his baton by striking her knees. She easily dodged, then slammed him onto the floor with a restrained strike of the butt of the shotgun.

When he attempted to rise once more, Velvet hit him in the head with the shotgun. He was knocked unconscious, and she turned to Kandase, seeing almost instantly that she had swiftly dealt with her opponent.

He laid unconscious on the floor. "It took you long enough." She joked. "Let's see where we can drop these lovely souls off of-- Velvet, watch it!"

Velvet impulsively ducked just in time to avoid the shotgun-toting railwoman who had since pulled a knife and charged.

Velvet, while resting on her knees, swung the shotgun and clubbed the railwoman in the knees. Her stringy blonde covered her pained expression as she fell to the floor. "Where are we getting rid of them?" Velvet inquired.

"Maybe we'll come across another pond... or... " She trailed as she looked at their surroundings. Finally, she pointed towards an incoming mass of shrubbery. "There."

They made short work of putting Kandase's plan into action. Two at a time, they threw the semi-unconcious crew into the long shrubbery growing adjacent to the track. After catching their breath, Velvet watched as Kandase clapped her hands together. "Now, to find where they have the switch to the other car's power source." Kandase ran her finger along the labels, whispering "Bingo." when she found the desired switch, only to become confused when it wasn't simply a switch. Kandase read the label for clarification. "What? 'Insert key for emergency power shut-off'? What the hell is this?" Frantically, Kandase enlisted Velvet in her efforts to search the engine for the desired key. After several minutes of fruitless searching, Kandase backed away from the panel, putting her face in her hands.

"Kandase? What's wrong?"

"One of the Engineers must have had the key to do it. We can't do jack without that key. There's no way to shut off the power to the rear cars." Kandase attempted to raise Adam on the earpiece,but to no avail. "Why are you going dark, Adam? What's going on?" She then turned to Velvet. "Adam's going to put the contingency plan in action. He's likely assuming we're dead, so he's going to put it into play."

"What's the Contingency plan?"

Kandase remained silent for a brief moment, looking out at the nature that passed by in a blur. "Once he and Blake have the materials they need, they're going to blow up the train, with or without us on it."


	20. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 20 (PT 3)

"What are you talking about?" Velvet asked, assuring herself that what Kandase had said must have been misinterpreted by her hearing. Despite her strong negative feelings about Adam, she could hardly see him as the person who would willingly kill two of his own comrades for the sole purpose of obtaining materials for the group.

Kandase rubbed her chin, likely trying to figure what she should do. It was not clear to Velvet whether or not she had even been heard by her partner. She looked out of the windshield of the engine, grunting to herself. The sounds of battle and gunfire erupted through the wind somewhere behind the train, but neither of them bothered to pay it any mind.

"Kandase..." Velvet began, but trailed, unsure of what she would even say to her. Kandase met eyes with Velvet, a look of grave concern on her face.

"Velvet, I'll be honest with you. I have no idea what to do. If you have any bright ideas about getting out of this jam, then by the gods, I'm all ears." She said, removing the hood of her uniform and running her hand through her hair. Velvet looked out at the blur of the Forest of Forever Fall, racking her brain. She knew not what to do, and she knew that, if they didn't come up with a plan fast, they would most certainly die. This desperation caused her to say the first thing that came to mind.

"Why don't we simply leave?"

Kandase turned and squinted her eyes, as if she was unsure how to process what Velvet had said, whether to perceive it as treason or stupidity. "What do you mean by that, Velvet?" She said, turning to face Velvet with her head cocked and arms crossed.

"There's no way to contact Adam. If we go back there and try to explain to him what is happening, he'll likely see our failiure as an unforgivable one and kill us on the spot. If we stay, and wait for them to do what we came here to do, we'll be killed in a fireball. What I'm considering is an option 'B'. We jump off the train, leave the White Fang. No one will suspect anything if they think that we're dead, right? So what's to keep us from simply leaving?"

"Velvet. You're suggesting simply abandoning these people, not trying to atone for what we've done. What if they need our help? What if they end up fighting for their lives because of our mistakes and we can't help them? Would they do the same for us if they were in our position?"

Velvet broke her gaze, looking off into the distance, embarrassed by her own selfishness. Her face became warm as she came to grips with what she was suggesting. "You know they wouldn't." Kandase's ending to her declaration took Velvet by surprise, and she stuttered aimlessly, unsure how to process this. Finally, she was forced to settle on a single word that properly embodied her confusion.

"W-What?"

"Velvet. I've known these people for a long time. Blake isn't ruthless, but she can be a coward at times like these. She's the type to run whenever things get too hairy for her liking. Adam, on the other hand, is the total opposite. I know that he _acts_ like he puts his men before himself, but he's also a coward...of the more ruthless and selfish sort. I've seen him lead men into battle, then save himself rather than allow his men the chance to stay alive. It's quite disgusting, rather. Why should we offer them the same courtesy that they wouldn't give us? That's why you should leave, Velvet."

Once again, Velvet was dumbfounded. "What?" was all that she could manage to say once more.

"You don't need to pretend with me, Velvet. When you've been with as many lowlives and been through as much as I have, you get a knack to cut through the crap on a lot of people. I was able to read you like a book, from the first time that we met. I learned that we're not so different. I never would have taken this life willingly if I didn't have a mission."

"What do you mean by--?" Kandase shushed Velvet by putting a finger over her lips.

"Velvet, do you want out of the White Fang?" Velvet, severely confused and concerned for the mental stability of Kandase, eyed her finger and slowly nodded. Kandase removed her finger, placing her hands on her hips. "Alright. I've been racking my brain about doing this for a while now, and I feel that you're a pure person. That's why I'm offering you a way out."

"A way out. How do you intend on doing that, Kandase?"

Velvet jerked as she felt Kandase place her large hands firmly on her shoulders. "I have a contact. Well, he's more of my boss. I've told him about you, what you've been through. He already knew who you were, so I didn't need to explain much. Apparently, you met up with one of my...associates and she was able to fill him in. The point is, he's expecting you. He told me, if you ever wanted out, then I was to give you the items in this bag." Kandase removed the bag from her person and tossed it to Velvet. "You'll find an address, supplies, and a change of clothes that you're more familiar with in there."

"Kandase, what are you...what are you doing? What are you talking about?" she asked, warily eyeing the bag and strapping it to her back.

"Velvet. I--I'm not exactly who you think I am. I'm not one of these people. There is a lot that I can't possibly explain in such a short amount of time. Let's put it this way, okay? There a _lot_ of things going on in the world. Scary stuff. Stuff that is bigger and badder than the Grimm themselves, run by people who are twice as bad as the worst of the worst within the White Fang. I am one of the people who's helping to make sure that these people don't get their way, or the total destruction of the Four Kingdoms."

Still dumbfounded, Velvet felt her brain fill over with all of the questions that she had accumulated in the short time that Kandase had spent talking. She put her hand to her forehead. "You're part of the police?"

"No, Velvet. The police have no idea that any of this is going on. No one outside of the group I'm in do. If they did, there'd be mass panic. That's why I'm trusting you with this, and also why I'm not giving you all of the details."

Velvet stood, in stunned silence. She was unsure whether she should have felt honored that Kandase had entrusted her with such a secret, or upset that she had been deceived once again. "Kandase, what about the people that you've killed?"

"Velvet. I've only killed one person since that night at the warehouse. I've been fortunate enough to get by without doing it, been able to keep my hands mostly clean. Then I was hired to help put an end to the Business I told you about. The only reason that I killed that officer is because he forced my hand. If it were anyone else he was trying to kill, to be perfectly honest, I probably would have let him. You, though, Velvet. There's...something about you. Keeping away from the fact that I've grown partial to you over this short time, I sense something strong inside you. When I told my boss about it, he became quite intrigued. You don't have to, but I suggest that you get off of this train and meet up with him. He's going to wait at a restaurant at the address in that bag for two hours everyday from noon to two. It's in the Commercial District, just at the edge of the walls. He'll do that for two weeks. You have until then to make a decision."

Velvet was perplexed beyond words. She hadn't the slightest way of comprehending what the woman she _thought_ she knew had just told her. "I--What?"

"Look, I know that this is a lot to take in so quickly, but the gist of it is this. You are much more important than being here. You're destined for so much more, Velvet Scarlatina." Before Velvet could get another word in, Kandase gripped her in a hug. Velvet gasped, feeling the warmness of Kandase's body convect onto hers. Her eyes closed, and she could think of no proper words that she thought would assuage her friend.

"I want to thank you, Velvet. Before I met you, I wasn't sure if there was anyone left in the world worth fighting for. For the first time in my life, I'm glad that I was proven wrong. You gave reassuarance that what I was doing was the right thing. He was right about you."

"Who, Kandase?" Velvet asked, taking on a quizzical demeanor. She paused, as if to decide whether or not she should disclose any more. Finally, the answer that she settled with was one that was dissatisfying to Velvet.

"No one. Now, you need to get out of here!" She said, breaking from her embrace. She turned Velvet on her heels towards the window of the engine. "I'd send you out the door, but there's too much chance of you getting caught underneath the train. This is your best option at making it off of her alive." Kandase rushed over and eased back on the throttle slowly. The train coasted slowly to a more moderate speed, though it did nothing to ease Velvet's fears.

Despite this fear, Velvet leaned out of the window and sat on the sill. The ground sped all around her, and she couldn't find a proper place to drop. Rather, she didn't want to find a place to drop herself off at.

"Kandase," She began, looking over her shoulder at her friend who had joined her side. "I don't want to do this. I don't want to leave you here. You shouldn't be alone to face those people, whoever they are. I want to fight with you, to be by your side." She shouted over the wind.

She felt Kandase put her hand on her shoulder. Velvet became reassured, and was almost certain that Kandase would agree and hoist her back inside the car. It was a tangible hope of hers that she would assist Kandase in her fight and bring down whatever corrupt organization conspired against the world of Remnant. "I know you do, Velvet. Don't worry. Someday, you'll get your chance. Make me a promise until then. Don't just fight the battle; win the war."

Confused, the feeling became more amplified as she felt herself pushed off of the train and onto the gravel that supported the track. She rolled into a ball for protection, her legs, back, and forearms taking the brunt of the natural assualt upon her body. Her advance was ceased when she struck a nearby tree. Her vision flashed for a split second before she came to a full stop, resting on her back.

Velvet laid there, on the ground, in a daze. She was unsure what quite had just happened. She didn't have much time to recuperate from her latest ordeal, however, as the distinct battle cry of a what she thought was a nearby Huntsman. Her conscience getting the best of her, she powered through the immense pain searing thoughout her body and advanced towards the noises.

Her ears were soon filled with the sounds of both Beowolves and Human, causing her to rush forward more than before. When Velvet reached the source of the noise, she was appalled by the sight.

A boy who looked to be her age, and about the mass of Kandase, faced off against a single King Taijitu, among it being an evident Alpha Beowolf. There were another three Beowolves dead and beginning to dissolve near the Huntsman's position. He was tan, with jet-black hair and a clean-shaven face. At the moment, Velvet saw that he looked worn, blood soaked through his light-green robe, and scratches evident all over his face and forearms.

He possessed a long short-sleeved robe, which he wears on one shoulder over a black muscle shirt. Velvet saw that his robe was fastened at the waist by a leather armored belt, housing two pouches on it. His legs and feet were adorned with brown pants and black-and-green boots. His left arm bore asode that extended up past his shoulder. In his hands was a bronze-colored greatsowrd with a hooked tip.

One of the heads on the King Taijitu snapped at the Huntsman, prompting her to take action. She dove, as much as it pained her to do so, and summoned a Hard-Light copy of a Broadsword. She brought the tip down on the center of the beast's mouth, sending it retracting back. The second head slunk about and attempted to attack while Velvet was on the rebound of her previous attack. The strange Huntsman blocked the attack himself with powerful strike into the earth from his blade. Velvet dismissed her weapon and performed a technique taught to her by Kandase upon the near Beowolf.

She leapt upward and focused a large amount of Aura into her right leg. She spun in the air and landed a direct hit on the beast's chin. She proceeded to swiftly dropkick the Alpha in the abdomen and propel herself back. Not hesitating in the slightest, she focused her energy on her fist and landed a direct hit on the nose of the Alpha, sending its head jerking back and neck snapping. There it fell, dead.

Velvet, full of adrenaline to numb the immense stresses put on her own body, altered her course of descent to land back at the strange Huntsman's side. He looked over at her with his large brown eyes, as she did as well. "Do you mind if I ask you your name?" He asked in a surprisingly innocent and soft voice. She noticed that he was short of breath, and felt that it would be in his best interest if they would end the battle quickly.

A small wave of hesitation passed through her, and she decided that there would be no harm in disclosing her first name. "It's Velvet. What about yourself?"

The two eyed the remaining beast as it looked right back at them. The black head of the Taijitu stared at Velvet, its head swaying as if planning its next move. Her Huntsman fighting partner breathed heavily, back arched and sword tightly gripped as he readied himself for another attack.

"Yatsuhasi. Yatsuhashi Daichi."


	21. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 21

The black head of the King Taijitu dashed forward, almost too fast for Velvet to dodge out of the way. The head, on the contrary, swiftly slithered around Yatsuhashi. He wasted no time in leaping into the air over the Taijutu, arching his sword behind his back and bringing it down onto the thick hide of his half of the creature. Velvet, in a precarious move, leapt upward as the Black Taijitu attempted to strike once more, tightly clutching one of its large fangs for support as she performed a barrel roll onto its head. Velvet, with an idea in mind, clawed into the head of the Taijitu for stability, then whipped out her camera. After carefully aiming, she managed to take a picture of Yatsuhashi's weapon. She slammed it back into it's resting place, then made short work of summoning a Hard-Light Copy of his greatsword. She released her grip on the Grimm's head, slashing where her hand had just been.

While it was stunned, she began to run down the length of its body, hacking and slashing with her blade. Ousting her summon, she leapt off of the Taijitu's body, summoning Kandase's throwing knives in the process. Landing in a crouching position, she accurately threw three of them into the face of her enemy. They exploded, causing the Grimm to hiss and retract its head. This also caught the attention of Yatsuhashi, who looked over and offered a look of approval. Upon noticing, Velvet couldn't help but smile at the silent admiration. She ousted her current weapon and, in an effort to save her energy, charged at the Black head with only her fists as weapons.

Velvet primed herself, then leapt to face the Taijitu at eye-level once more. The creature snapped once more, an attack that Velvet's sharpened reflexes were able to narrowly dodge. As she recovered herself midair from the dodge, she lifted one of her legs and thrust her heels into the red eye of the Grimm. It howled in pain, giving Velvet ample time to use its head a springboard and leap even further into the air. Once there, she gave herself a sense of Deja Vu as she summoned a Hard-Light copy of Icarina's Bow and three arrows. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and shot the arrows in rapid succession. The first landed in the remaining eye of the Black Taijitu head, shattering upon impact. The second landed square where Velvet had leaped from on the base of the Taijitu's skull. The third encased the beast's head in a large block of ice, sending it falling to the ground where it lay dormant. Velvet leaned forward, using her Semblance to form a spear-tipped boot around her right leg.

 _I never imagined I'd be using any form of this again. Then again, I suppose I should thank Kandase. If it weren't for her, I would never have been able to find a...less self-destructive form of it. If this works, I suppose I'll have to thank her for it._ Velvet leaned forward even more so, sending her body into a front flip. Once she was just over the block of ice encasing the Black Taijitu's head, Velvet reared her leg, then thrust it forward against the ice.

She amassed the surrounding area in a fog from the explosion of ice. She ousted the copy on her leg, then quickly looked through the fog, trying to get her bearings. The first thing she saw was the blocks of ice around her, slowly melting as a result of the decaying chunks of Grimm flesh inside. The black half of the King Taijitu lay limp. She turned, then saw Yatsuhashi slowly turning in a circle, desperately trying to cut through the fog with his eyes. Almost immediately after, she saw the remaining head of the beast begin to lurk up behind him, from an elevation that would have limited his vision of the creature.

"It's behind you!" She cried out. Without another beat, he turned on his heels and raised his blade over his head.

Just as quickly as he brought it up, he swung it in a heavy downward motion, an amplified variation to his previous attack. Velvet watched in awe as his strike cut through the fog, sending up a shockwave of air and earth towards his opponent. As the attack reached its target, it easily bisected the remaining Taijitu. Its two halves began to dissolve before they even hit their own respective patches of ground. Yatsuhashi took a deep breath, then dropped to his knees, using his sword as a support to stay upright. Velvet rushed over and knelt with her fighting companion.

"Are you alright?" She asked, offering Yatsuahashi a hand. He took a deep breath, then calmly waved her away. After another deep breath, he uprighted himself. His light-green Aura began to glow, and the cuts and scratches across his body began to disappear as a result. He looked at Velvet, eyes narrowing as his gaze drifted downwards onto her clothes.

"Where did you come from?" He asked suspiciously.

Velvet looked down at herself, then gasped when she realized she was still donning the dress of White Fang members. "It...It isn't what you think."

"No, I believe it is _exactly_ what I think. I think you're a misguided girl who had her eyes opened to the reality of what she was a part of and took the first opportunity that was presented to her to get out. I think it looks like, before me, is a Faunus who is seeking life anew."

Shocked by how perceptive Yatsuhashi had made himself in their first meeting, Velvet ducked her head in emabarrassment and warily nodded. Yatsuhashi was silent, and remained so until Velvet lifted her head up to meet his gaze.

 _Huh. I suppose he_ _is a bit taller than Kandase._ She surmised.

"Would you like me to escort you into the city? It is the least I can do, for your helping me."

Velvet rubbed her arm, unsure how to respond to this spontaneous act of kindness. Finally, she settled with "I would appreciate that."

"It's going to be a daunting task if you are dressed in those clothes, however. Perhaps you would like to change?"

Velvet looked down at herself once more, then gasped in revelation as she slipped the straps of the backpack Kandase had given to her from around her shoulders and into her hands. She pulled the buckle of the black receptacle to see that there were several articles of clothing and survival equipment inside. "Yes...Yes, I do."

After Velvet had arranged for Yatsuhashi to stand behind a tree facing away from her, she had extracted a set of the outfit that Kandase had evidently designed for her. Once she was wearing it, she couldn't help but admit that it was quite the stylish upgrade as compared to her brown form-fitting jacket with yellow stripes and leggings during her days in Valkryite.

Kandase had provided Velvet's wardrobe with a dramatic fashion change, Yet managed to keep the essence of her original outfit. She had provided Velvet with a short, long-sleeved brown jacket with a golden zipper running down the center, along with brown shorts containing a golden detail to complement her black leggings(of which Kandase provided a new pair) Along with this was a sleek black, semi-translucent undershirt. Along with these fashionable changes, Kandase had remembered to place in tactical armor enhancements as well. Within the backpack were brand-new sets of golden spaulders and vambraces for both of her arms, as well as a belt similar in style to them. Her heel and toe were likewise protected by such garments that had been provided to match the previously mentioned articles of armor.

While she was looking over her new outfit, she couldn't help but notice a small patch that had found its way onto her chest. She ran her hand across it. It looked as if it had been sewn on by hand. The batch was the same shade of brown as her outfit, with a golden border to match the details on her shorts. In the center was a golden heart, apparently held together by heavy stitching. Upon inspecting her other jackets, Velvet realized that Kandase had placed this patch on all of her jackets. Unsure of the exact meaning, she had dug around in the backpack for an answer. It was at the bottom of the bag that Velvet found a letter that Kandase addressed to her.

Her name was written in quick, small handwriting across the front of the sheet of paper, which was in itself a crumpled mess after bearing the stress and weight of its armor coinhabitants and being thrown around. Despite the wrinkles, Velvet opened the paper and began to read what it was that Kandase had felt was important to tell her. She looked back to see if Yatsuhashi had kept his end of the promise that he made to Velvet. It was a pleasant surprise to see him where he had remained, back leaned against the tree, facing away from her.

She turned back, the red petals falling around her, and began to narrate in her mind what it was that Kandase had written to her.

 _Hey!_

 _If you're reading this, then you made the right choice. You got out while you still could. I know I'm not one to tell you such (sarcasm, there. I can't turn it off!), but I'm proud of you, Velvet. You really are just like everyone would tell me that you'd be. A great ball of fluff and innocence caught up in a world that is out of its damn mind. Only the gods know how, but, despite everything you've been through, everything that you've had to do and all the crap that you've seen over_ _the past few months, you still kept your morality, your humanity (Well, as much as us Fauna can have. Sorry, stupid joke. Hehe)_. That's _really admirable to me, and it goes to_ _show how mature you are_. _I know that things have been a bit tough over that time (They'll probably stay that tough as you go through th_ e _recovery process. I know how those images, tho_ se _people lost along the way, stay with you for a while, maybe forever. Those feelings won't beat you, but it'll be hell to get through it. Just know that, though we're apart, I'm rooting for you, Velvet Scarlatina! I know that, no matter what the world hurls at you, no matter how many times you get the living crap kicked out of you, you're always the one who gets back up the fastest and the tallest._ _That point brings me to the patches. Well, I started off with only one, obviously. I sort of just had it. It had no meaning to me, at least... not until you came along. I saw you when I looked at that little heart. For a time, I couldn't figure out why. After a while, it hit me. The heart was yours. You'd been hurt and screwed with so many times in your life. yet, it seems like every time that it happened, you would simply pull out a needle and Stitch your own heart back together, no matter what happened to you, no matter how traumatic. I know you never told me why you did that, or even if you knew that you did that, but I have a theory. You were so driven by your need to help people buy your conscience it wasn't in your nature to leave someone behind or care only about yourself. no matter how much of an awful person they were, or how undeserving they were of your affections in your attention and your care, you would always be there for them sticking your neck out even when you were sure that they wouldn't do it for you. your heart is whole, velvet, and it's only that way because you have the strength to pull yourself together after every time you've been hurt. that's why I want to give you these patches. That's why I went to the best seamstress that I know and I had her make copies of it so that anytime you would look down over your heart you would be reminded everything that you've been through and your resilience through it all. I wish that I would have been able to tell you all this in person, but I guess this was Fate's way of giving us the finger huh? One more thing, I just wanted to tell you that no matter where you go in life no matter what you do, you've already made me more proud than anyone else ever has. I sincerely hope that we meet each other again, but if we don't, I want to thank you for showing me that there is still some light left in this world, that there is still some things worth fighting for, still risking my life for. I'll never forget that, just like I'll never forget you. OK, I should probably stop getting all mushy. I need to keep up my image after all. Hehe, sorry, had to get one more joke in for the road since we probably aren't going to be seeing each other for a while. Until we meet again, Somewhere down the road._

 _Never Stray from your Heart's Path, Velvet_

 _Kandase_

Velvet had to wipe her eyes to keep from having tears drop onto the parchment. She folded the paper once more, replacing it in the black backpack. She rounded the corner to find Yatsuhashi still diligently standing behind the tree where he would not be able to see anything. Velvet sniffled a small bit, wiping her tearstained hands on her leggings in an attempt to alleviate the wet substance from them.

"Are you alright, Miss... Velvet?" He asked in a tranquil tone, likely just recalling that Velvet hadn't told him her last name.

"Yes, Yatsu... hashi. And I'm alright if you just call me 'Velvet'." She replied, looking up at him with a smile.

"And I'm alright with you calling me 'Yatsu'." He said, giving Velvet enough reason to giggle in a manner that someone had not brought on her for an extremely long joke before then. Her laugh put a smile of innocence on his face, giving her even more reason to grin. "I suppose it would be in our best interests to be on our way to the city walls." He began to walk when Velvet called out to him.

"Why did the Grimm attack you? What were you doing out here all alone?"

"Well, the Forest of Forever Fall always made me feel the most at peace. I often come here to meditate and expel any bad energies from my Aura. In retrospect, I imagine that the expulsion of any negativity would make me attractive to those creatures."

Velvet jogged forward to Yatsuhashi's side, craning her neck to get a look at his expression. He noticed, and cocked his gaze back at Velvet. "I know it's not my place to ask, but are you planning on meeting anyone in the city?"

Feeling that he was a trustable individual, she slipped her bag around once more, now realizing she had somehow missed the address that Kandase had mentioned before. Her first few seconds of searching fruitless, she became desperate and began checking for any hidden pockets within the bag.

Then, the one true solution hit her harder than a charging Deathstalker. She retrieved Kandase's letter, taking a closer look. There, in the margins of the letter, sat the address. She recited the cipher to Yatsuhashi, who listened intently for a moment before his face lit up. "I know where that is. It's a restaurant."

"That's what my friend told me as well. It was a restaurant, somewhere in something called the...Commercial District?" Velvet recalled. Her rural lifestyle made her foreign to the ideas of major cities and Districts.

"Yes. The Commercial District. It's just north of us, past the Kingdom Walls. I can take you there if you want."

"Please. I'd rather not navigate through such a strange urban jungle alone."

They soon reached the entrance to the city which was, to Velvet's surprise and relief, unguarded. The two walked through, and Velvet couldn't shake the feeling that she was quite literally walking out of one chapter of her life and proceeding to the next.


	22. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 22

The city was bustling with life, with more people in a single municipality than Velvet had ever seen before in her life. People of all walks of life, it seemed like, were inhabiting the same space in perfect harmony. It was like there couldn't be any qualms between these people. Velvet would have sincerely believed that all of the people around her were unaware of the racial tensions that had gripped the world of Remnant for all time. It was then that she became aware to just how out-of-place a reclusive and stoic Yatsuhashi appeared to be among the harmonious dissonance.

"How did someone like yourself end up in a city such as this? Surely, you're not a native?"

Yatsuhashi calmy nodded, looking down briefly at the girl that had addressed him before raising his head once more to look straight ahead. "I'm not originally from this place. I was originally from a place called Thread. It's a small village in the far north of Anima. Once I had been accepted into Beacon, my parents had insisted on moving me here two months ahead of my enrollment in order for me to become properly acclimate to the urban lifestyle prior to school starting."

Velvet nodded, looking ahead at the immense shopping centers that they were coming up upon to shadow the small shops and assorted apartments that they had been casually strolling. The buildings were enormous, casting large shadows onto them and street, defying the midmorning sun. They were adorned with glowing borders, an ornate manner in which to utilize the glow of the Dust implemented to keep the establishments in working order. Several people at a time walked out of the stores, several bags of different delicacies crammed into carts and hefted in awkward positions in different directions. Velvet was delighted by the diversity that this city had to offer, in all shapes and forms.

It was like the advertising she had seen on the television back in Valkryite. Frankly, she wasn't sure whether or not scenes like that actually existed, or if they were simply products of Atlesian film crews. It was almost too much for her to take in at once.

It was a beautiful thing to Velvet, the aesthetic that the large shopping centers offered to the look of the area as a whole. This triggered the silent regret that she had not made it one of her priorities to visit the City of Vale before her life took such a dramatic and unfortuante turn. This thought took her to the surprising realization that no one had made her while she walked out on the street without any type of concealment for her face.

Velvet didn't make a big scene out of her discovery, but she thought it strange nonetheless and decided to keep her guard up. The last thing that she'd want was to be ambushed as a result of her foolish decision to enter a population and police hub. She mentally scolded herself for allowing herself to enter such a place without a second thought. _I wonder if it will be like Hansel said, or if the_ y'll _actually give me a proper trial. In retrospect, his word probably isn't the most reliable. He was probably telling me everything that he did in o_ r _der to keep me on a leash, so I wouldn't ask questions._

Finally, the two rounded the corner of one of the glowing shops that Velvet had seen and out of the shadows. As they rounded the corner, Velvet had to cover her eyes as they were bathed in the warm light of the sun that was directly over the street next to them. Yatsuhashi stopped and pointed to a restaruant located at the far end of the street, opposite their side. "That's the restauraunt that your friend told you about. Whoever you're meeting with, they're likely waiting inside."

"Aren't you going to follow me?" She asked, pondering the possible reasons why Yatsuhashi would not want to accompany her, at the very least, to the front of the establishment. _Is it possible that he knows?_ She suggested to herself.

"I imagined that your business was private, and that you did not wish for me to view any part of it. I was planning on merely waiting here to ensure your safe journey there."

"Well, you're free to walk me there. In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure what to expect myself." She said quite bluntly. Velvet had no idea what it was that was waiting for her inside, and, if the past few months had taught her anything, it was that it never hurt to have a backup plan should things go south.

Yatsuhashi nodded passively, gesturing Velvet forward. She smiled as well, and began to step towards the crosswalk. After briskly crossing, she looked behind her to see that Yatsuhashi was indeed still following. A smile was allowed to pass her lips, and she turned forward once more, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. From their vantage point, she could see that there was a welded metal sign over the front door of the restaraunt. It read _The Rusty Clockwork,_ the metal letters also welded on to the rusted metal frame. The sign itself was hung on two black hooks that jutted out from a rod of the same color that was screwed in over the doorway of the entrance.

It didn't take long for the pair to reach the entrance of the restaruant. The front of the restaruant was equipped with large bay windows that would allow any type of passerby to effectively gaze inside and see what was going on. The door itself, to Velvet's delight, was a standard oak door with several old cogs of all shapes and sizes drilled into the wood. There sat a small framed window near the top, just tall enough for a person of Velvet's height to see through with minimal difficulty. The door handle itself was in fact a clock retrofitted to fit its new purpose. Trying to conceal her excitement for such a unique and expressive opening to a restaraunt, she turned to Yatsuhashi, who only stood with a blank smile, his eyes squinted against the sunlight.

"I am afraid I must leave you here to conduct your business, Velvet. What goes on while you are in there is none ofmy concern. I can assure you, that, should things 'go south' as you say, I will be waiting out here to provide you assistance. After a time, should I see that you're in no evident danger, then I shall take my leave. Regardless, I will be gone when you leave this place. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for the joy of making your acquaintance. Perhaps we shall see each other again?"

"Of course. Thank you for your help." Unsure what to do, Velvet impulsivley outstretched her hand, which Yatsuhashi took. He shook it firmly, yet gently enough that, should her eyes have been closed, Velvet would have sworn that she was shaking hands with someone who mirrored her physique. Without another word, Yatsuhashi leaned his back against the sliver of red brick wall adjacent to the building. Velvet took another look at him before she turned the knob to the door and slipped inside.

The restaurant was as delightfully quizzical and quirky to Velvet that she was just as excited as when she was standing outside. The walls were adorned with the pictures of famous clockmakers in Remnant (the fact that she even knew who they were was due in no small part to the fact that she had once spent a summer as a little girl, waiting for her mother to return from a particularly extensive trip, that she had read the extent of Valkryite's extremely pragmatic, yet extensive library) as well as the scientists who played a large role in designing the CCTs. The tables were, in themselves, replicas of clock faces. The walls were adorned, underneath the pictures, with a peeling stick-on wallpaper with a brick wall pattern. Velvet wasn't sure if it was part of the restaraunt's motif, but she felt it to be an interesting addition to the other styles in the building.

The employees of the eatery, to Velvet's disappointment, were dressed in black collared shirts and slacks. However, her childlike joy was rediscovered when she realized that the nametags of the employees were, similar to the style of the tables, brass clockfaces. The counter was solid brick, save for the metal countertop. Over said counter was a large metal welcome sign that delighted Velvet almost as much as the door had. Behind the counter was a coffee machine, who's tint matched that of the counter. Along with this, holding less of Velvet's interest, was an assortment of cookware, slightly blackened from extended use.

"Enjoying yourself, are we?" A familiar female voice whispered into her ear. Momentarily anxious that a new foe had come to toy with her, Velvet turned to see it was not a new enemy, but rather an old friend.

"Dorian!" She exclaimed, not hesitating to embrace her in a hug.

It was then that Velvet realized she had come in too quickly, and slowly retracted, hoping that she had not come on too strong. The smile on Dorian's face proved the opposite, however, calming any insecurities Velvet had felt.

She looked deep into Dorian's eyes,which were a striking magenta hue now that her contacts were gone. A twinkle was evident in her eyes, one that she had only seen in the eyes of Kandase. It brought a joy of days gone by, but Velvet thought it best not to say anything about such things. Instead, she asked Dorian how she was faring.

"Before I answer that, there's someone else who wants to talk to you." She moved out of Velvet's field of vision to give way to the sight of two people who were looking her over.

The first was a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes to effectively contrast it. His face was light-complected and very angular to Velvet. She saw that the first stranger had black eyebrows, from which Velvet deduced that he may have had black hair to go with them during his younger years.

His eyes were partially covered by a pair of shaded glass spectacles. His neck was wrapped in a dark-green cowl. Over the cowl in the center was a small, purple, cross-shaped pin. The other aspects of his outfits consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt to go underneath. Over the stranger's feet and legs were black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. Resting against the table by his side was an intricately carved cane as silver as his hair. Resting in front of him was a white mug of what she assumed was coffee.

The boy to his right looked to be near Velvet's age, yet somehow managed to come off as someone twice that age.

He appeared to be a teenage boy with dark skin and dark, messy copper hair, styled (so to speak) into a long fringe and a cowlick.

The strange boy's abdomen was covered by a sleeveless, muted orange zipper vest with black lining and a raised collar. Around his legs were a pair of black jeans. On his feet, brown, laced shoes. His eyes were pure pools of white, giving off the appearance that he is blind, similar to the technique that Dorian had been using to track Velvet when they first met.

His arms were covered in an array of scars, along with a vertical scar on his lips. The stranger wore a pair of long black gloves that partially covered his forearms. Around his waist was a belt adorned with patches.

Dorian led Velvet over to the table, where she quickly introduced her. The Copper-haired boy remained silent, unlike the other silver-haired man.

He tipped his head in acknowledgement of Velvet's prescence. "Velvet Scarlatina. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I can assure that I've heard a lot about you, from an assortment of reliable sources. Please, won't you have a seat?" He said, gesturing to one of the empty chairs at the table, directly across from him.

She eyed the chair, then uneasily sat, clasping her hands together on the table. The silver-haired man sipped his coffee while she performed this action, Dorian sitting in the chair next to her. The Copper-haired boy continued to stare uneasily. "Velvet," Dorian asked, placing her hand on Velvet's. "Do you know who these people are?"

Velvet thought intently for a moment, then recalled exactly who she was in the prescence of. "Yes. You're Professor Ozpin, Head of Beacon Academy. You went to said school with my father Zandu. Yourself, Dorian, and he were part of Team OZDN. He would tell me stories of all of your heroics, then and after."

A smile crossed both of their faces at the mention of their old friend. "And I'm sure all of his stories were true. Your father was a great man, a great Huntsman. If what I've heard and seen has any merit, than his skill was passed down onto you. It is likely a major factor in why you have survived for so long out in the wilderness. Did you ever find it odd that you were able to access your ability through your Semblance? Did it ever strike you peculiar that you never needed the assistance of Dust to access them?"

"Yes, sir. I was perplexed when I first began to explore the limits of what I could do, but I simply took it as a blessing from the gods and pushed it to the back of my mind."

" 'Gift from the gods', you say? Where may I ask did you learn that lesson from? Perhaps your father?"

Confused where Ozpin was going with his string of questions, Velvet played along.

"My father was the one who taught me that, yes. How would you know that?" She asked, not considering the idea that Zandu may have simply told Ozpin this. Even then, this proved to not entirely be the case.

"Your father, believe it or not, did keep in contact with me and...most of his team after Graduation Day. We were all made aware to your peculiar abilities, and their special qualities. They possess very rare traits that almost no other people have ever recorded before. To use magic abilities without the need of Dust. Does any of this sound familiar to you?"

Velvet warily nodded, slowly beginning to piece

together what it was that Ozpin was trying to say. A spike of anxiety passed through her, but she said nothing. Velvet wanted to be proven wrong, or perhaps she subconsciously wanted to be proven right.

"As a matter of fact, such rare abilities are a major reason why I feel you would be an essential part of the roster at Beacon Academy. Before such talks, however, I must ask you a very important question."

Ozpin paused, looking towards Dorian and the strange boy before looking back to Velvet. "You're smart enough to know where I'm going with this but," another pause, a small smile cracking at the corner of his mouth. "What is your favorite Fairy Tale?"


	23. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 23

The three sat in silence as the bustle of the restaraunt went on around them. Velvet ducked her head down, trying to fully understand what it was that Ozpin just told her. A waitress walked by, asking "Would the young lady like anything to drink?" Dorian had turned and calmly ordered a small platter of fries. She likely knew that Velvet would not want to eat, but felt that if she simply ordered something, then they could avert the accusations of loitering.

"I--" Velvet began, but silenced herself when she came to the realization that there was nothing she had thought to say.

"I know that this is a lot to take in at once." Ozpin consoled. "Do you have any questions?"

Velvet looked around, the one question forming in her mind that came as a result of the story of the Four Maidens. "Am I--" She stopped, feeling the weight of her question stop her.

"Are you what, Velvet?" Dorian asked, leaning in on her.

Velvet took a deep breath, then let it flow from her mouth like a stream at flood tide. "Am I one of them? Am I a Maiden?"

Almost immediately, the Copper-haired boy sighed and put a hand to his face. Dorian gasped and looked back at Ozpin, who shook his head and raised a hand over the table in Velvet's direction. "No, no. I'm terribly sorry for the miscommunication."

"Velvet, honey. I'm sorry. That's not what we meant at _all._ "

"Yes," Ozpin continued. "We are quite sure that you are not a Maiden. We have almost all of them under a close eye. Despite that, your power level, your abilities and their qualities are on the par of theirs. It's quite a peculiarity, one that could be honed to form you into one of the greatest Huntress Remnant has ever seen."

Embarrassed that she had jumped to such a conclusion, Velvet began to blush. Her eyes veered down to the table once more. She wished that she could think of a proper question that would move the attention of the table away from her, but, in her irrational state of mind, she could think of none. Instead, it was Dorian that took it upon herself to move the topic over to one that Velvet had thought of herself when she had walked in. "Well, I suppose that now is as good a time as any to introduce you to my apprentice. Velvet, this is Fox Alistair. Don't be expecting to hear much from him. He's not the talking type, are you, Fox?" All that she received as a reply was a small grunt. Fox took his eyes off of Velvet and focused on who she now knew as his teacher. His lip twitched, hardly noticable to Velvet. She was tempted to ask why he was so reclusive, but she knew that she would not get in an answer. "Make no mistake, Velvet. If there's a time when he communication is needed, he lets you know. Fox is a bit like me, and I don't just mean the tech. He prefers to stick to the shadows and only come out when he needs to. Kind of like how you have done. Gotta say, Velvet. You must have been pretty freaked out to enter such a large populace while you thought you were on the run, huh?"

Velvet quickly exchanged glances between the other three people at the table before the last snippet of Dorian's monologue fully sunk in. "What you mean, Dorian? Has something happened while I was out there?"

Dorian looked over to Ozpin, getting a nod for a reply. She turned back, taking a deep breath. "You could say that. Let's just say that we opened some people's eyes to a few things, pulled some strings upstairs, and rattled all of the right cages. We're not one to get into messes like the ones in politics, but when someone finds out just how powerful a certain Faunus is and wants nothing more than to see them dead, it's an issue we don't mind dirtying our hands with."

"What do you me--" Dorian put a hand upwards, immediately silencing Velvet.

"We weren't the only ones to find out about your abilities, Velvet. I'm sure Kandase, despite her several orders not to, filled you in on some details regarding what it is that people like us do. I'm sure that you're aware that we've tasked ourselves with dealing with some very bad people intent on doing some very bad things to good people. Well, one way or another, those people found out about you. Once they saw the kind of person you were, who you were related to, they likely saw you as a threat, as they damn well should. They wanted to silence you before you could make a sound. They found a certain Councilman and his mistress with everything to lose, and set the last few months into motion. Long story short, you were set up, Velvet."

Velvet leaned back in her chair, shocked. "But..Hansel..." She gasped, covering her mouth. Fox leaned forward before Dorian and placed a hand on her shoulder. He looked at her through his milky eyes. "The only assailant that your Hansel companion was victim to was his own greed." Almost as fast as the interaction had begun, he leaned back and crossed his arms, eyes forward.

"He's right, Velvet. Your friend was a pawn in our enemies' game, and they played to his weaknesses. You weren't at fault for what happened. He brought it upon himself. I know that this can't possibly take away the pain that you're feeling, but you deserve to know the truth about what happened."

Velvet nodded somberly, grasping the gravity of what it was that had just been revealed to her. "I see." Was all that she could manage to utter.

It was then that the waiter had brought a platter of fries and placed it down in front of Velvet. After asking if she was hungry, and receiving a reply in the negative, Velvet followed Dorian's hands as she slid it over in front of herself, furiously eating her food. Velvet thought that it was odd for Dorian to have eaten so much so quickly, but a later thought process put it into perspective. _They were_ _probably waiting a while for me to come here. It makes sense._ She rationalized.

"Velvet..." Dorian began. A pained expression coming over her, she looked to Ozpin for assistance. He placed his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together.

"Miss Scarlatina, there is a reason we have told you all of this today. There is a reason why we want so desperatley for you to attend Beacon and become the greatest Huntress you can possibly be. The details of this will have to be discussed at a later time, but for now, allow me to tell you this: while we are aware of your desire to hunt the creatures of Grimm and uphold the peace of Remnant, we are offering you a choice. You may go off, pursue your studies, graduate, and achieve such goals to the best of your abilities. If you want to truly fight, however, on the frontlines of a war that will ultimatley decide the fate of the entire planet, a war that only a handful of people, aside from us, are even aware about," Ozpin paused, tipping his head downwards, his face taking on a serious expression of stone. "Then we have just the job for you. You have a choice to make, Velvet. I pray that you make the one for the good of all of the people of this world."

Velvet was shocked at the idea. She realized that this person was implicitly attempting to recruit her into a shadow war that she had only been aware of for an extremely short time. "What about my family?" She asked.

Ozpin uncoupled his hands, placing them under the table on his thighs. "A reasonable concern, yes. One we've also thought of. Velvet, doing the right thing has the unfortunate consequence of attratcting the attention of the most undesirable sort. That being the case, we are fully prepared to provide the best protection that we can give. I make no promises, but know that no corners will be cut when providing for the defense of those who are sacrificing to help us defend the kingdoms themselves."

Velvet nodded once more, her brain taking on a fuzzy feeling with the sudden loading of information upon her. She knew not what such a decision meant for her, but she knew that it was a large moral obligation for her to defend her fellow human and Fauna. Velvet knew herself well enough to know that she would never forgive herself if she were to abandon the world when it had called on her. She also couldn't help but feel the romantic sensation of being given the chance to iterally save the world. ("I'd be a liar if I were to tell you that this aspect wasn't a small part of my decision process. He managed to call on one of the main reasons behind my wanting to be a Huntress in the first place. I wanted to destroy what evils plagued the world, and Ozpin had offered me a perfect opportunity to" She told Rojo. He remained silent through all of this information, likely trying to process it as she did on that day.) After a small bit more of thinking, Velvet looked up from the table, staring directly into Ozpin's cool eyes. "OK. If you can protect my family, then I'll do it. I'll aid you in your fight."

Ozpin made no indication peratining to his reaction to Velvet's declaration. He only nodded once more, lifting his hands up to clasp the mug in front of him towards his mouth for a drink. He momentarily took his eyes off of Velvet to focus on the brim of his mug. His eyes then turned to Dorian, where they remained until she returned his gaze.

He nodded to her, and she nodded back without a beat. Afterwards, her eyes fell on Fox, to whom Dorian instructed, "Fox. Why don't you put some of that audio jamming tech to good use and make sure that no one hears what's about to be said?"

Fox nodded, quietly informing his teacher that he had already been performing such an action. "That's awesome. I taught you well. Why don't you go out and make sure that there's no one out trying to plan a little surprise party for us?" He paused, then nodded understandingly and rose, walking to the door, and exiting without a word. Velvet eyed him, unsure what it was that was at play. Because of this, she remained on her guard, not sure what to expect once more. Dorian rose herself, walking over to the counter. She whispered into the ear of the nearest cashier almost incoherently, even to Velvet's sensitive hearing.

 _She must have equipment against that_.

The cashier pulled away, eyeing Dorian incredulously. She flipped her dark blue hair, and scoffed at whatever it was that she had been told. Dorian clutched her shirt collar and pulled her in once more, whispering more vigorously this time. The second time that the cashier pulled away, she called over a person with a bright yellow fauxhawk and dark freckles that Velvet assumed was the manager. Upon his arrival and subsequent asking of what the problem was, Velvet watched intently as Dorian repeated the same whispered phrase that she had uttered to the young cashier. The manager's eyes grew wide, his mouth forming in a defined 'O' shape, and he chastised his subordinate for not doing what the 'Huntress Woman' had asked of her. "They do so much for us, already. Why, you know what? Everything is on the house for you and your party. I won't take the Lien of such wonderful public servers. Shannon, hurry and do what she asked." The woman groaned, then raised her voice to garner the attention of the people in the restaraunt.

"Excuse me. I'm terribly sorry, but we're closing early. You need to leave." She asked with a small hesitation, likely anticipating the groans that would follow the bad news.

"What the hell for?" Called a stout, balding man eating with young blonde woman.

"Huntsman business." Dorian said, turning to face the aggressor.

"Why do we have to bend over for you Huntsmen?" All Dorian had to give for an answer was a cock of her eyebrow. "Right." He said, offering his hand to his still-seated date. She slapped his hand away, and rose herself. The woman, in a flowing blue sundress with heart patterns over it, walked out the door with the stout man waddling in tow. It didn't take long for the others in the restaruant to follow, grumbling and looking amongst each other, trying to use each other to figure out what exactly 'Huntsman business' meant. Once they were all out, the employees followed. Dorian made a promise to the manager that no harm would come to her shop, and that she'd personally pay for any damage that may have occurred.

Once he was gone, Dorian took to dimming the lights of the room. She maneuvered the switches until there was no way to view the outside world. The restaurant was almost pitch black, not affecting her vision in the slightest.

"Have a seat, Dorian. You know the procedure." Ozpin gently directed. Dorian as directed, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead.

"What's wrong, Dorian?" Velvet asked in genuine concern. Dorian waved her hand, as if to physically ward off Velvet's worry.

"Nothing, dear. The years have just taken their toll on my eyes. I can't always adjust into the dark as easily anymore. Another perk on those contacts. I'm able to see in the dark as easily as you now." she said with a snicker. Velvet politely laughed, although she didn't think it was too funny.

"All frivolity aside, we must begin. Before this, however. I do feel inclined to set you straight on one other matter, should you have come to another incorrect conclusion. Make no mistake, Velvet. My trust in you over this matter does not come lightly, nor in a naive light. You see, as I told you, your father took great care to ensure that our knowledge of you was up to date, ever since you discovered your Semblance. Despite what you may think, this did not come solely as a result of a father's pride. Rather, it was a precaution. Zandu was a great man, who understood that there may come a day when a pure-hearted warrior was required for the defense of the world. He knew that you were just the warrior we needed, and began breeding you to become a Huntress for such a task as early as he could. This is your destiny, Velvet, a destiny that has been molded by many before you. It is one that you have been brave enough to complete on your own terms. Do you understand?"

Velvet nodded. She couldn't help but feel slightly cheated by her father. _Before I was even able to fight, my father had recruited me to fight in a war that I wanted no part in or even knew about to begin with. I made a choice in a matter that I never had a say in to begin with._ She shook those thoughts out of her head, realizing her head had ducked under. She rose to meet Ozpin's gaze once more, who had since placed a lit candle in the center of the table, striking intimidating shadows across his face and around the room. Dorian kept a closed fist to her mouth, as if in deep thought. Velvet exchanged looks between the two of them.

Once again, Ozpin clasped his hands together. "With that out of the way, let us begin the process. Close your eyes, Velvet." Velvet reluctantly did as she was told. Ozpin continued. "Velvet Scarlatina, do you know who we are?"

A small pause. "Yes."

"Do you have a full understanding of what we are asking of you?"

 _Asking, he says. As if I have a choice._ _I don't even think I can answer this sincerely if I say 'Yes.'_ "No."

"We are asking you to fight alongside us, for the good of Remnant. We are asking you to be prepared to lay down your life, as your father did, to defend the people of this world against the evil forces that conspire against it."

"I'm sorry?"

"Answer this question, please. Are you prepared to lay down your life to protect the people of this world from the forces that conspire against them?"

 _He omitted the bit about Father. Strange._ "I am."

"Are you willing to devote your life to eradicating these forces, not resting until they are dealt with?"

Velvet remained silent for a brief moment. "Yes."

"Do you fear death?" He said in a chillingly cool tone.

Velvet paused, thinking back to her bouts with suicidal thoughts. Finally, she settled with the answer that properly emulated how she felt on the subject. "I do not fear death itself, only the havoc it wreaks on the world left behind me. Death is a calm release from worldly bonds, but it is also an enemy. An enemy I can never hope to vanquish."

"Interesting." Ozpin observed. "Your father said something similar."

Velvet tensed at the mention of her father once more, hoping it would not show. To her relief, Ozpin did not comment on it, and continued. "You may open your eyes now, Velvet."

She did as she was told, her eyes quickly readjusting to the dim light. Both Ozpin and Dorian were staring at her with a superficial smile, serving only to amplify her feelings that she had just sold her soul to the God of Darkness.

"You made the right choice, Velvet." Dorian said, putting a soft hand on her shoulder.

 _Did I?_ She asked, feigning a smile.

"Miss Scarlatina, my list of wrongdoings and mistakes is several lifetimes longer than anyone else on this planet. I need you to reassure me that you will not become a part of that list."

Confused, Velvet did not immediately answer. She wondered just what it was that Ozpin meant with his description of his past mistakes. _Was it hyperbole?_

Velvet hesitantly shook her head in the negative.

"I need to hear you say it.

Please." She could have sworn that there was desperation in his tone.

"I won't be a mistake. I'll do my part." Velvet couldn't help but recall the similar situation in which she said nearly the same words to gain entry into the White Fang.

"Thank you. Now I have no qualms with doing what comes next."

"What comes next, Professor?"

Rather than answer, he turned his attention to Dorian. "You know what to do." She nodded and turned to Velvet.

"Give me your hand, Dear." Velvet complied, and watched as she did the same with Ozpin. His eyes began to glow the moment their hands touched, and Velvet couldn't help but feel a tingling sensation throughout her body.

Ozpin's eyes began to glow, and his head jerked back. "Let not the sanctity of this ring be broken. Allow us to banish all animosity and hated be banished to beyond the borders of our inseparable bonds. Let us be the only ones to bear the burdens of past mistakes. Let the innocent live on in blissful ignorance, with no recollection to bar them from moving forward into the future." He took a deep breath and grasped the edges of the table. Velvet moved to assist, but Dorian only held Velvet in place.

"Don't worry. Doing that just takes the wind out of him for a little while. He'll pull through in a little bit." Velvet realized she was lifted into a hunched over position over the table. She seated herself, putting a hand over her mouth as she was witness to the slow recovery process that Ozpin put himself through. After a while, he looked to Velvet once more.

"That will certainly make your attendance at Beacon a bit less troublesome."

"What will, Professor?" Velvet asked.

"Over the years, I've been able to acquire quite a few special skills. One of which is the one you saw just now. Everyone outside of our ring will have no recollection of the past few months. As far as your family and friends are concerned, you've simply been here the entire time, preparing for your studies."

Overjoyed, Velvet impulsively asked, "What about Hansel?"

Dorian choked back a small gasp, and Ozpin looked to the table. "Unfortunately," He reasoned. "Even my abilities have their limitations. I can change the memories of the past, but not the physical manifestations. I'm sorry."

Velvet curled her lip back, embarrassed that she had put too much faith into the man in front of her.

"It's quite fortunate that you made it here when you did, Velvet. Thankfully, you're able to slip into the classes at Beacon without any trouble, since the term doesn't start for another two weeks." Dorian said,making an unsubtle attempt to push Velvet's thoughts away from the blood on her hands.

"So...No one here or anywhere recalls who I am?" Velvet asked, deciding to play along with Dorian.

"You can go see for yourself, if you'd like." He offered, gesturing to the door. Without a beat of hesitation, Velvet walked out the door, the afternoon sun irritating her eyes.

She swiftly ran up to a lanky man slightly shorter than her. He was wearing a black suit with white pinstripes. His hair was jet black, slicked back with gel to show a receding hairline. In one hand was a chrome briefcase, in the other a Scroll held tightly to his ear. His eyes were plagued with bags.

Velvet ran directly in from the man, eliciting an irritated look as he reluctantly removed his Scroll from his ear. "What?" He asked in a manner that reflected his mood.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked briskly. The businessman scowled before offering a gasp, his expression brightening.

"Of _course_! You're the stupid girl who won't get out of my way!" He violently shoved Velvet out of his path before putting the Scroll back to his ears. "Yeah, sorry about that. Some damn kid was being an idiot. You were saying?"

Shocked that Ozpin had been able to manipulate such a large mass in such a way, she slowly reentered the restaraunt. As she walked in, she felt the eyes of both Ozpin and Dorian on her.

"Now, then. I would normally instruct you to never disclose your knowledge or your experiences of the past months, but I know that you won't be able to keep this a secret forever. All I ask is, when you find that person with whom you can trust this information with, you make sure that he's worth the risk."

Velvet nodded and agreed. Then, she didn't think there would be anyone she would ever reveal this daunting secret of hers to.

"Now that that's taken care of... " Dorian began, her sentence to be completed by Ozpin. "We can begin to make arrangements for your time at Beacon."


	24. The Velveteen Faunus Chapter 24

Rojo said nothing when Velvet ceased speaking to gauge his reaction. He said nothing, nor reacted in any way to suggest anything other than his intent of listen to Velvet's story. After several more seconds of such waiting, she decided to continue with the end of her tale.

"A few weeks later, I'd began to attend Beacon. I was, not so coincidentally, I'd wager, placed on the same team with Coco, Yatsu, and Fox. You are aware of all that, though. You've met them. Whenever there was a free space in my day for the first year, Ozpin requested that he meet with me in his office. There were some times when Professor Goodwitch or another older man who's name I never managed to catch. Most times, he and I would be led down to an area within the tower. It was... " Velvet trailed, feeling that even Rojo was not within the boundaries of trust to know about such a secretive place like the vault below Beacon Tower. Instead, she simply changed the course of the conversation, hoping that Rojo wouldn't take notice of it. "We trained for hours and hours a day. Once my classes were over, I would venture there. We would train and work everything to the bone.

My Aura was enhanced in order to withstand more strain. We worked my Semblance the most, pushing the limits of what I could do. There were times in our later sessions when, albeit uncontrolled, my power levels were on par with records of past Maidens. After time, I was able to surpass those limits. We didn't stop there, however.

I began to learn techniques that allowed my Semblance to become stronger, ways other than the ones that Kandase or other people had taught me. We learned that, should I refrain from using my Semblance for an extremely long period of time, my power would increase tenfold. We then resolved to sharpen my skills in hand-to-hand combat against enemies, especially the Grimm. What Kandase had already taught me was a pivotal starting point from which Ozpin springboarded our own lessons.

Soon, I was able to strike down a Grimm with a single series of blows. Still, we did not stop there. After we effectively honed my physical skills, Ozpin moved on to the psychological factors of my training. He taught me how to become resistant to illusion magic, and mind readers. He taught me countermeasures So that I would be able to fight back against such foes. He indoctrinated me on the enemy that we were combatting, what they had done, what they were capable of. He trained me to steel my heart against hate, feelings of animosity and anger. One of the lessons that he lectured to me was this. 'It does not matter if you can best an opponent in a physical battle. If they can force themselves into your mind and manipulate your heart, then you have already lost. They can twist you, contort your thinking to fit their own design. By the time you become aware what is going on, it is already too late to act.'

With that in mind, we trained almost twice as hard to steel my psyche against such evils. It was one of the most grueling and mentally taxing things I've ever done. Regardless, I powered through. Though I sometimes had doubts about my place in all of this, I knew that I was needed in some shape or form to fight back. Whether I liked it or not, I had an obligation to the people of Remnant. No matter how ethically questionable I saw some of the methods with which Ozpin operated, once I knew how valuable my abilities were to the defense of mankind, there was no question of how I would use them. The people of this world needed me, and I couldn't simply leave them helpless.

After those months, after my meeting with Ozpin, that's been my life. I've spent almost every waking second of my life preparing to fight an enemy that may not come, to wage a war that may never happen. I'm in a warrior in a fight that was not mine, but made me its.

That's part of the reason why I'm so reclusive. If there was anything that I was taught while out on the run, it's that I'm not normal. I'm special, but in the way that makes the worst people com out to do everything in their power to hurt me in any way that they can. If they don't, then it seems like the ones that I care about the most end up getting themselves hurt because of me. That's why I stay away. That's why I don't like to get too close to anyone, even my team. I know that they're out there, watching me. I'm afraid, Rojo. Not of them, but of the possibility that my friends and loved ones will get caught in the crossfire. I don't want anyone else to be hurt and die because of me, and if I have to be alone for all time, then so be it. On top of that, I fear that I'll someday lose control of my powers, as some Huntsmen have been known to do..." Velvet trailed before continuing. "Like I've done myself. I don't want any of that to happen to any of my loved ones."

She paused once more, unsure of what to say afterwards. Instead, she crossed her hands and laid them on her lap. "Do you think that you deserve to be alone?" He said, startling Velvet. She turned to him. "What?"

"Do you think that no one cares about you? That we're idly sitting by, unaware of what you're doing? We know, Velvet. Not all of us maybe, but I've noticed at least." He turned away from the street to look directly at Velvet. She turned as well to face his stone gaze. "I've tried, ever since we met, to get closer to you. At first, I thought it was just me, until I realized that you acted the same way towards everyone. I was confused, natuarally, until today. With what you told me, Velvet, I need to set you straight about something."

Velvet stayed listening, intending to hang on to every word that was about to come from Rojo's mouth. "You don't get to decide which of your friends can get hurt by you or the people around you. It's always a given that the crap is set to go down at some point when you get attached to someone. The universe just has some weird sense of humor like that, I suppose. My point is that we're the ones who should decide whether or not we think you're worth the risk of getting hurt over, not you. If we're willing to walk the edge for you, then who are you to pull us back. You're a special girl, Velvet. Not because you have the power level of a god or anything like that, but because you're, well, _you._ You're the kind of girl who gives people a chance to make friendships they remember for a lifetime. In my opinion, it's really selfish of you to deprive people of the chance to experience a relationship like that."

Before Velvet could form a response, or even begin to think of one, she gasped as Rojo leaned over and wrapped his arms around Velvet's upper body area. She blushed a small amount as Rojo dug his face into Velvet's shoulder. "You don't have the right to cut us out like that." He directed. "If we want to fight for you, get hurt for you, or even die for you, then by the gods we'll do it." Rojo raised his head up, mere inches from Velvet's. "You're just going to have to deal with it, and let us fight with you when we can, because we're not going anywhere."

Velvet reached down, and clutched Rojo's hand tightly in hers. He grunted in a positive tone, nodding ever so slighty. She knew that he knew how much of an impact such a simple gesture meant to one of her closest friends, and she knew just how appreciative Rojo was of it. In that one instance, neither of them needed to say a word, for they had communicated everything in it.

The sirens of incoming police cruisers became ever more present as the sun ceased to be. Far off, the two could hear the loud cheers from the floating stadium above the school. Neither of them seemed to care about any of this, however. She allowed a smile to cross her lips, tipping her head down ever so slightly. "I think I can bear with that."

 _Hello, Huntsmen and Huntresses! I hope you've enjoyed the story, but it's not over yet! Up Next: The Epilogue._


	25. The Velveteen Faunus: Epilogue

The land and the sky emitted a grim combination of red and violet. Pools of black pocked the ground below her lair, the occasional Creature of Grimm emerging, one of her own children. She looked down at them with longing eyes, imagining the lovely path of destruction and death they would pave in their war against humanity. The reemergence of her Seer to her side broke her delighted spell away from the reality that would soon be not-so-fictional.

"Hello, my love. Have you news to report?" She asked, running her long, white fingers along the bulb of the top of the Seer's body. In response, a garbled, filtered voice came through the Seer, resonating throughout the hall in which she stood.

"My Queen, there has been a development. Ozpin has managed to acquire himself another recruit. A Faunus." She let her gaze float away from the Seer, interest in the conversation quickly fading.

"Why should this concern us? He has many pawns in his little game, as we do to combat them."

"This particular Faunus is in Vale, and she is exceptionally powerful. I've been told that her power matches that of one of the Maidens."

Her attention was garnered by his last statement. She allowed her black eyes to become filled with the Grimm's essence once more. She squinted in speculation. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Ozpin has been teaching her how to use her abilities. I think she's been getting stronger. I've been able to observe from afar, but that's what it appears to be."

She turned her head to the window once more, crooking her finger under her chin, slowly putting together the same plan that passed through Ozpin's. "She must be the failsafe against Cinder receiving the full power of the Maidens. Clever little Ozpin." She turned her head to the Seer once more. "Have you anything else to report to me?"

A small pause, which served only deeply annoy her. "No, my Queen. Everything else is going according to plan."

A sinister smile passed her lips, gliding to the table behind her with the Seer in tow. "Rest assured, Manda, your devotion and assistance will not go unseen."

"Really? How do you propose to repay me?"

Another shot of annoyance. Manda did not know it, but her patience was quickly running thin. However, knowing that she would need to use Manda for a small amount more before she disposed of the informant. She would let Manda play into her hands a little more until said usefulness ran out. "You will have the pleasure of killing the girl with your own hands before she becomes too much of a threat."

A small chuckle. "It would be my honor, My Queen. Thank you."

Rather than offer her welcome, Salem ended the transmission. She slid into the seat, and interlocked her hands in front of her, deep in thought.

"You may shield yourself with as many children as you wish, Ozpin, but in the end, it will only lead to more blood on your hands. They cannot protect you from witnessing their deaths, from bearing the sight of all that you've built, all of your empires being turned to nothing more than ash. Rest assured. I will find this safeguard of yours, I will find the Maidens, and I will tear them from the false realities and dreams you have instilled in their minds. I will open their eyes to the liar that you are, then snuff out their brightened souls as they die with the realization that their premature deaths are on your hands. I will make sure they understand the futility of how they've spent their lives resisting. When they are gone, I will find you, and teach you one last lesson. You will look on at the carnage you are responsible for, and learn that the darkness was here first, and it will be there long after the last light has burned out. No matter what you may do, who you may find to fight, the Darkness will consume them all."

 _Thank you all so much for having faith in me, especially to those who stayed updated until the end! Keep your eyes peeled for any updates with this little fandom of mine! I hope you enjoyed it!_


End file.
